The date September 11th will forever have the devastating terrorist attacks engraved into it. An event that will forever be remembered by not just America, but the whole world. Ranging from rural areas to enormous cities, everyone knows what happened on that fateful day. Every year we mourn the victims, show respect for first responders, and educate our youth about the day that’ll always be remembered. This year marks twenty years since the incident that has affected everyone and everything.

“I would have been thirty one,” AP history and government teacher Thomas Block says. “When we came into the school the principal told me that a plane hit the World Trade Center.”

According to the 9/11 memorial website, the first plane struck the North Tower at 08:46 followed by the second plane striking the South Tower seventeen minutes later at 09:03. The buildings were slowly collapsing as the impact from the airplanes melted support beams and offices. Many rushed out of the building and safely evacuated the complex while first responders and heroic citizens helped evacuate the rest of the employees and anyone else in the area.

“So we went to the classroom. We had TVs in the classroom, turned on the TV and students were kind of really quiet all day long. Watching it was kind of surreal. It was almost hard to believe that that was going on,” Block said.

The buildings couldn’t handle the tension any longer and eventually collapsed after about an hour and a half. Many buildings and objects in the vicinity were also destroyed. 2,753 innocent victims tragically lost their lives that day in New York City. Along with the attacks on the twin towers condemned by two planes, two more planes were hijacked. One was discovered at the Pentagon which left 184 people dead. Flight 93 was discovered in an isolated field located in western Pennsylvania. The spectacular thing about Flight 93 is that the passengers on board fought back.

“I turned six that week,” AP history and government teacher Tyler Haistan said. “I remember watching it on TV. My dad turned it on TV and we watched it. He panicked. I was just, I didn’t have any idea what was going on.”

Those events happened twenty years ago, but were never forgotten. America has been heavily impacted by these attacks. According to a survey conducted by Gallup.com many people were frightened to attend large events, board planes, travel overseas, and enter skyscrapers. Despite the worry of another attack, America grew more compassionate for each other and became unionized.

“I remember that whole year, it was just very patriotic and our class T-shirts became red, white, and blue. I remember there being an assembly soon after that. That was about veterans,” Haisten said.

“People were acting better towards each other,” Block said

President George W. Bush addressed the nation about the unexpected event with confidence, reassurance, and strength which gave the nation a glance of hope and determination. When he was notified of the attacks he was broadcasted on TV and displayed on many news channels.

“Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror,” Bush said. “The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge — huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.”