Fifteen years ago, America suffered the most devastating attack in its history. On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners and steered them towards major centers of American culture and power. Behind the events that unfolded that day were countless personal stories and reactions. However, the terrible immediacy of Sept. 11 has turned into history.

Brian Nierman, who has been teaching at NNHS for 14 years, was a junior in college when 9/11 occurred.

“It was literally just four days of people walking around in a stupor. Classes were cancelled that day,” Nierman said.

Laura Iverson, another staff member at NNHS, said it was an unforgettable experience. Ryan Hantak remembers it like it was yesterday.

The North community contributes to the greater personal narrative of the attacks of 9/11. For those like Nierman, Iverson, and Hantak who remember and lived through the historical day, it is their duty to pass down their stories. This school year marked the first year Naperville North has received students who were born after the attacks. Teachers and staff now have not just an opportunity but a duty to pass down their stories and emotions.

Alyssa Helm, a freshman at North, realized she had never learned about the emotional side of the historic day.

“I think we should tap into more of the personal narrative side of it to get an understanding of what it was actually like to have experienced and been there that day,” Helm said.

Arianna Porter, another freshman at NNHS, believes in the importance of teaching new  generations about 9/11.

“It should be in the curriculum. We should learn about it, just as we learn about slavery or anything else,” Porter said.

There are certain moments in history that define generations and alter the course of society. Events like Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, JFK’s assassination, and the Vietnam War come to mind for many. For those who are old enough, there is an even more striking picture of how drastically 9/11 shaped and changed the American landscape.

Hantak recalls the days when one could drop off friends at the airport and walk directly to the gates to say goodbye. Gone are those days, and in place are times of tightly scrutinized traveling.

Nierman has seen the impact 9/11 has had on children’s lives.

“Kids born after 9/11 never got to experience how I grew up in the 90s. It was a time of prosperity and peace,” Nierman said.

For as tragic and world shattering as the attacks were, life had to go on, and it did. Nierman quickly realized this in an unlikely place while watching the World Series in his college dorm room.

“We were all crying because it meant life was coming back to normal; it meant we were going to be okay,” Nierman said. “Mayor Giuliani with his NYPD hat really unified us and made us feel that somehow we would go back to some kind of life.”

That is the great American spirit. We rise from the ashes, pick ourselves up from the bootstraps and continue on fighting and thriving. Fifteen years later, in this post 9/11 world we live in, we have a new normal. As Iverson said, “I don’t think things should have to be this way, but they are and we have to learn to adjust to them.”

We adjust by never losing sight of how we got to where we are now. Never lose sight of the brave men and women who laid down their lives to save others. Never lose sight of a nation collectively coming around the slain in patriotism and solidarity. Never lose sight of how we are still here today thriving. Fifteen years later, we must not forget. To those who are older, tell your stories, to those who are younger, listen. To Naperville North and its student body, let your stories flow out, let your emotions become intertwined with curriculum, and lets us stand each year in solidarity, never forgetting the attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001.