TULSA, Okla. — Students at Tulsa Tech are honoring the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks through a class project.
In just a short two weeks, students in the masonry and welding programs at Tulsa Tech created a display to pay tribute to the events that took place on 9/11, 21 years ago. Students in the masonry class have been asked since 2003 to create a project to honor the lives lost.
This year the display is made up of a water fountain with a brick flag, a bench dedicated to a man with local ties who died at the pentagon, and two twisting columns to represent the twin towers. For the masonry teacher, Chauncey Kila, this project isn’t just about being hands-on and creating the tribute. It’s also about the history lesson.
“Nowadays this generation it’s kind of like a history lesson because I’m finding out a lot of my students weren’t even born yet. So we talk about 9/11 at first so they can kind of get an idea of what that day was,” Kila said.
He says for this project he tasked the students with making sure they incorporate all three locations; the pentagon, the twin towers, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“We put these 21 flags up here for this reason because its the 21st anniversary and then this bench right here is a replica of the benches at the pentagon memorial that they have,” said James Clack a Tulsa Tech masonry student.
The bench Clack helped create is dedicated to Sperry High School graduate Brian Moss. Moss was a navy petty officer who was killed in the pentagon attack on 9/11.
“His mom came by in 2012 to see our walls. She had been to every memorial service except for that year she didn’t go because she lost her husband," Kila said. "She didn’t know anybody in Tulsa was doing something for 9/11. She saw the wall on the news and so she called me up and wanted to come out. So when she brought her daughter with her they just walked up to the wall and started crying.”
He says 2012 was probably the most meaningful year of doing these projects because of the local tie. So this year when the students decided to build a bench they knew Moss was the perfect person to honor.
The display is only open for students to visit. If someone outside the school would like to visit the display you can contact the school at 918-828-5000.
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