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OGDEN — This Monday will mark 22 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that changed the United States of America.
For so many of us, it seems like forever ago and yesterday at the same time. Current elementary, junior high, and high school students were not born when 9/11 occurred.
A project in Weber County is aiming to educate and bring what happened that day full circle. Many students and community members have been visiting the Weber Remembers 9/11 Project. The free project is being held in the Golden Spike Events Center at the Weber County Fairgrounds.
Steve Scasquarelli is in Utah visiting from New York. He was a firefighter who served as one of the first responders after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.
"There's a lot of lessons that we learn from this. There really, really are. … We need to bring that message forward. We really do," Scasquarelli said.
That message is being carried through The Weber Remembers 9/11 Project in pictures, video, education, volunteers and first responders.
Today, we had the honor of meeting a firefighter who responded the day of the 9/11 attacks in New York City.
— Karah Brackin (@kbontv) September 7, 2023
He still lives in New York, & is visiting Utah this week into Monday as part of this project.
He grabbed this piece of steel found in the rubble from the attack.@KSL5TVpic.twitter.com/cx7Q4uDHOL
"These students are seeing pictures. They're hearing 911 calls. They're watching news coverage that was before their time, and they're starting to see, 'Oh. This is why my mom says this is such a big deal," said Jennie Taylor, founder of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation.
Now, more than two decades later, Scasquarelli is sharing his experiences of logistics, loss and love with students like Ms. Skeem's sixth grade class who have studied the attacks in their history textbooks. He is sharing his experiences of logistics, loss and love.
"That phone call to this day raises the hair on the back of my neck. … We lost 343 of our guys that day. In a flash. They were gone. Those buildings were 110 stories tall," Scasquarelli said. "I was absolutely shocked about how something so big could be reduced to something so little."
Skeem said her sixth-grade students are learning a lot through the project.
"It's just eye opening for them. I think it will hopefully bring them a little bit of respect for what the people went through then, for all of the first responders. Just help them to, like, immerse themselves in this," Skeem said. The hope is looking back helps them to look forward.
"Hopefully, they'll pick something up and bring it with them forward one day, and maybe teach their own children what happened," Scasquarelli said.
The Weber Remembers 9/11 Project is on Sept. 7, 8, 9, and 11 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
During the weekdays, school students will come visit the project on field trips, as part of a partnership between the Major Brent Taylor Foundation and the Ogden and Weber School Districts and their corresponding school foundations.
