Students recall what they remember from 9/11 and the aftermath.
Even 14 years later, 9/11 still resonates with students who do not remember or had no understanding of the attacks at the time.
For many freshmen, these recollections are not so clear. Students in the Class of 2019 were just beginning to enter preschool and kindergarten. The fear that shook the nation on Sept. 11, 2001 was unknown to those just learning to tie tennis shoes and recite their newly learned ABCs.
“Honestly, I don’t remember anything about the 9/11 attacks,” Nathan Roldan, a freshman studying computer science, said. “I was too young — probably in kindergarten.”
Roldan’s response is becoming the norm now, with more and more millennials not being able to recall this pivotal moment in American history when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one at the Pentagon and another in a field in Pennsylvania.
Some do remember where they were, although they did not fully grasp what was happening at the time.
“I was in kindergarten and I had daycare after,” Kate Ansel, a freshman studying journalism, said. “I didn’t remember hearing (about) it, but my mom came and got me in the middle of the afternoon. They normally didn’t pick me up until five.”
Ansel also went to Disney World that fall. “When we went in the park, we were in there for five minutes and we saw Mickey Mouse — and you never saw him,” she said. “There was hardly anyone there because no one was flying.”
At such a young age, not able to understand the gravity of the situation, Laura Chase said she was still concerned even though the entirety of the attack was not registering.
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“When it happened I was all of three and a half years old,” Chase, a freshman studying social work, said. “I remember that my best friend was living in New York at the time, and I was really nervous about that.”
Sept. 11 is more a piece of history than a recollection to millennials, but it’s as close as many can relate to because of the aftermath.
“I do have very vague memories of flying before 9/11 and going through the airport and it not being this super big deal,” Chase said. “It was just like (you) walk on through, and now it’s crazy security and everything. It has definitely changed our sense of security overall.”
Since then, TSA agents are required to perform random searches and pat-downs, which is now all too common while going through airport security.
“You can never be too safe about anything because you never really know what somebody is capable of or even the motives behind it,” Roldan said.
The result of these attacks, Roldan said, led people to lose faith in the U.S.’s security and the breach it caused for future policy.
At just four or five years old, the Class of 2019 was not old enough to notice the new policies set to stop terrorist attacks and the new prejudices formed against Muslims within the U.S.
“I think the biggest effect is our country’s hatred of anyone from the Middle East,” Ansel said. “Anyone that comes to our country that is from there is stigmatized — they’re stereotyped.”
Though they might not recall their own memories of the attack, younger millennials are finding new ways to commemorate the day.
“It affected a lot of people. It also showed us the way that people come together,” Chase said. “I went to the memorial in New York this past February, and the architecture of it is really beautiful. There are even yellow roses if the family has visited. Just seeing that — it’s really heavy.”
@mmhicks19
mh912314@ohio.edu
