Greenbrier High School remembering 9/11 after 21 years

EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It was a moment that felt like the world stopped spinning.

A second plane hit the Twin Towers while many watched on live television.

Sunday will mark 21 years as we still remember all of the victims and the brave men and women who saved lives that day.

Students remembering 9/11 this weekend were not even alive to see that tragic day firsthand.

But they’ve grown up in a world impacted by it. They’re making sure the day is not forgotten.

The last graduating class that was alive when 9/11 took place, was the class of 2019.

While students who participated in today’s ceremony were not alive when it happened, they say it’s important for them to never forget, as they prepare to serve our country.

“I think it really just comes down to the phrase “never forget”, the same thing with the holocaust, Pearl Harbor, all those events,” said Savannah Koback, lieutenant commander of Greenbrier High School’s JROTC.

Koback helped lead Friday’s ceremony at Greenbrier High School.

“It’s an honor to present something that means so much to people and honestly. You could just feel the weight and the importance of what it means,” said Koback.

Students remember that importance is a big message of the program, but it’s also about teaching them about the unity that followed.

Naval Science Instructor, Barry Bartasavich, said: “It takes a tragedy to bring people together and that’s exactly what this tragedy did, it only made us stronger as a nation.”

It’s a message that echoes for students like Amina Watson, a member of the ROTC.

Watson said: “I feel like it allowed us to come together despite our differences. “We still have some of those same differences today, and this was able to have to come together.”

The ceremony featured the playing of taps and guest speakers, like Bryant Wolf, a first responder and greenbrier high school alumni, who says the events of 9/11 led to his career in public service.

Wolf said: “Each generation has events that formulate the way we view the world, that color our world view, 9/11 was that for my generation.”

While this generation may not remember 9/11 firsthand, he hopes they’ve learned to be resilient no matter what comes their way from the generations before them molded by the tragedy.

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