Students born after 9/11 get history lesson on anniversary

To those teenagers, it's a history lesson. But for many others, the memories are fresh and real.

Inside West End Middle School, students were engaged, captivated and emotional by the sights and sounds of that September morning.

Even though they weren't alive, they won't forget.

"It's like, wow, this really happened," said Howard Bell, an eighth grader at West End Middle.

He remembers being in fifth grade the first time they learned about 9/11 in school.

"It's crazy. Why would anyone want to kill other people? They're killing themselves to kill other people," Howard said.

Monday, students at West End Elementary sat and watched a documentary about the events that fateful morning and the chaos that ensued afterward.

Joel Covington is the eighth grade history teacher at West End Middle School.

"You guys weren't even around yet," he said to his class. "So how do you know what happened when you weren't even there? All you know is what people have told you."

He knows Sept. 11 will be discussed in grade school classrooms for years to come.

"It's certainly the most important thing that happened in our generation," Covington said.

He knows eventually, some of these students will be the ones teaching about it.

"It puts you in that moment, and it helps them think about historical events from a different perspective," he said.

Covington said that by the time students are in eighth grade, they have been through several 9/11 anniversaries and they continue to learn more about the events with each passing year.