TULSA -- While the attacks on September 11, 2001 may seem like yesterday to some, for young students in school it's part of history they didn't live through. Green Country teachers are using their personal memories to help students connect to the gravity of that tragic day.
"I had just left keyboarding class, when the first plane hit the North Tower," said Betty Collins, U.S. History teacher at Union Eighth Grade Center.
Betty Collins remembers the attacks on 9/11 vividly. She was a sophomore attending Bishop Kelley high school.
"Living in the United States I’d always felt very very secure here, and that feeling, almost like a security blanket being ripped away," said Collins.
Her husband joined the Marine Corps a few years later.
"We know several people, friends, dear fiends of ours, that have lost their lives in either Iraq or Afghanistan," said Collins.
"They said that they were in school and all the teachers had their TVs turned on and stuff and were watching the news," one student said in Collins's class.
Students shared what their parents remember from 9/11. For eighth grader Alyssa Buckner, she learned how the aftermath impacts her 18 years later.
"My mom told me whenever she was younger before 9/11 you didn’t really have to get your carry on bags checked," said Buckner.
Buckner gained perspective from her parents, especially her father who was in military training when the Twin Towers were hit.
"He could’ve not made it, but I’m really glad he’s safe, it’s just really scary to think about," said Buckner.
While they didn't live through it, Collins doesn't want these eighth graders to treat 9/11 like another page in their history book.
"They are the ones that are ultimately going to be making those policy decisions for us, 10 or 20 years in the future, so they need to know the history of why we’re fighting the War on Terror so they know how to bring our country out of that," said Collins.
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