Students mark 9/11 with handmade crosses donning names of 2,977 casualties
By Brittany Whitehead
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FLAT ROCK, North Carolina (WLOS) — Today’s high school students weren’t yet born when possibly the darkest day in American history took place — Sept. 11, 2001.
Still, some high schools in the mountains have taken initiative in pausing to honor the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the thousands of lives lost that day and reflect on what it means going forward.
Students at East Henderson High spent two weeks crafting 2,977 small wooden crosses with the names of all casualties from 9/11 written by hand on them — those who died at the World Trade Center, on the ground below in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a field near Shanksville, Penn.
Those crosses filled the grass at the center of the school’s entrance on Friday, Sept. 10, as East Henderson students gathered around that entryway to the sound of Taps being played by a classmate.
“The country really never reverted to the way it was,” said senior Raphaella Alvaraze-Poblete. “I wasn’t born; I wasn’t there to feel that change,” she said. “But my elders tell me the United States changed after 9/11.”
The memorial was organized by the school’s social studies department, and all teachers were encouraged to bring their classes out to the entryway Friday morning as a solemn visual and remembrance of the magnitude of the lives lost on 9/11.
“I know this isn’t sacred ground,” said social studies teacher Daniel Corhn to a group of students, gesturing to the crosses in the grass. “But these crosses represent all those people who did not make it home to their families.”
Seniors Raphaella Alvarez-Poblete and Mack Mauger designed the banner that hangs above the memorial at the school’s entryway. Though neither student had yet been born by Sept. 11, 2001, both said they have been touched by the social studies memorial this week and by their families’ shared experiences.
“My dad was actually a first responder and was across the bridge when it happened,” Mauger said, and added that their mother was in tears this morning as both parents recollected the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. “Seeing how much it struck them really made me feel something.” Both Mauger and Alvarez-Poblete agree on the importance of researching the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and commemorating the lives lost, even though they and the rest of their classmates don’t have vivid memories of that day in history.
“Even though we weren’t born, learning to stand united is the easiest way to get through a hardship,” Alvarez-Poblete said.
Mauger added, “America may never truly recover from the trauma from the event, but we can grow stronger together.”
To protect the 2,977 markers from the elements, the memorial was relocated inside the school through the weekend and will be displayed in an alternate indoor location for the week of Sept. 13-17, 2021.
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