Local schools hold 9/11 ceremonies

Posted 9/15/17

Remembering 9/11

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Local schools hold 9/11 ceremonies

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Uinta Meadows

By Sheila McGuire

Herald Reporter

EVANSTON — On a day filled with solemn remembrances, fifth grade students at Uinta Meadows Elementary participated in a ceremony to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks. Local police officers, firefighters, and members of the military joined with students and staff to reflect on events that took place before the students were even born. 

The ceremony included book readings of both “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” by Mordicai Gerstein and “The Little Chapel that Stood” by A. Curtiss, as well as a viewing of Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” music video. Various staff members and speakers shared their — at times emotional — remembrances from that fateful day, including those who had worked for airlines, law enforcement and the military. 

Uinta Meadows principal Jerrod Dastrup asked the students to think about motivations for the attacks, specifically focusing on hatred for those who are different. He stressed the importance of respect for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or other differences. 

Dastrup also asked the students to think about ways to show respect to military personnel, law enforcement and firefighters who put their lives on the line for others, specifically including standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem. 

Students and staff then removed their shoes, tied them together and went outside to hang them along the fence in front of the school in a symbolic reference to those hung on a fence by firefighters who rushed in to the World Trade Center and never returned to reclaim their shoes. 

Horizon High School

By Bradie Jill Jones

Herald Reporter 

EVANSTON — Students at Horizon High School received a special education from someone closely connected to the attack on 9/11 during their Monday morning assembly. A science teacher at the high school, Denise Barker, shared with the students and faculty her family’s experience following the terrorist attack in New York City.

On the day of the attacks, Barker’s father, Michael G. Barker, left from the family’s home in Missouri to go help in the recovery efforts. With a background in civil engineering, and as a member of the Missouri Task Force One, he was responsible for determining the safety and stability of the buildings in and around the immediate area that had been harmed in the attack. He was on the ground working day-in and day-out at the World Trade Center from Sept. 11-22. 

Denise Barker shared her father’s deeply personal story with the students through personal photos, recordings and second hand stories. The students sat attentively listening. 

Horizon student Titus McGee said, “I feel like the presentation today was a better indepth look at how 9/11 actually affected real individuals.”

Seniors this year at Horizon High School were only around two years old on that September morning 16 years ago. The school felt it was important that an effort be made to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives, those who came to the rescue and those who have fought since then to keep our country out of harm’s way. 

“The further you get away from the event, the more detached the youth become from it,” Horizon principal Shad Hamilton said. 

Denise Barker said she dreads the anniversary of the attack every year. It often churns up heartache that she and her family felt.

Michael Barker spent his time studying the structure of buildings and debris in and around the site. While her father was gone, they would wait to hear that he had made it through buildings safely.  

Denise shared the fear the family felt in association with Michael’s dangerous job.

“That was so hard for us,” she said, “because no one went in before my dad to make sure it was safe for my dad to go in.” 

Barker was very real with the students in her descriptions of the realities faced by the first responders. 

I didn’t know that people had to trek through this thing — that must have been haunting for them,” McGee said. “The part with her father talking about the smell of the corpses in the rubble — that really got me.” 

Denise’s father now teaches at the University of Wyoming where he is a professor of civil and architectural engineering. 

Denise Barker prefers when the anniversary falls on a weekend so she doesn’t have to talk about it but she hopes that sharing her family’s story will prevent that sad day and the many sad days that followed from being forgotten. 

Of her students she said, “All they’ve known is war and I think that they’ve becoming inured to it all and I wish we could get some of that innocence back. I really hope they realize how significant that event was.”

Davis Middle School

By Sheila McGuire

Herald Reporter

EVANSTON — Students at Davis Middle School commemorated the 9/11 terror attacks on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 8. Activities began with every student viewing a brief video about the events, followed by teachers in every classroom sharing their own personal recollections of where they were that day.

Students then exited from the front of the building silent and in groups of four to symbolize the four men who led the effort to overtake the terrorists on board United fight 93. Students tied together red bandanas, which were subsequently hung from a tree on the lawn. 

Crews with the Evanston Fire Department attended the event and two fire engines parked side-by-side, turning on their hoses to create an arch of water. Students then passed under the arch and stood silently while DMS principal Chris Brown read a summary of events of the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. 

He spoke at length about United flight 93 and the heroic actions of those on board. Brown asked the students to focus on the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives fighting back against the hijackers. He said that those individuals provided an example to emulate by doing what was right at great personal cost. 

Brown mentioned various students by name as examples of those who stood up to bullying or helped other students in need. He then read a list of names of those on board flight 93, with each name being followed by the ring of a bell. 

At the conclusion of the somber ceremony, students were asked to return quietly to their classrooms.  The red bandanas remained tied in the tree as a memorial.