{"id":455483,"date":"2026-09-06T15:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/455483\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T15:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:56:10","slug":"teachers-students-across-southern-california-keep-9-11-memories-alive-as-anniversary-approaches-daily-bulletin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/455483\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers, students across Southern California keep 9\/11 memories alive as anniversary approaches \u2013 Daily Bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Ryan Weatherman, his seventh-grade year started out in 2001 just like any other.<\/p>\n

Like many young boys, Weatherman envisioned a future as a professional athlete or a fighter pilot. But like any American who witnessed firsthand Sept. 11, 2001<\/a>, the attacks rocked his world and changed his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the West Coast, it was earlier in the morning when the attacks happened, so by the time we got to school, our teachers were holding space for us,\u201d Weatherman said. \u201cThat was one of the first times that I had a teacher be like, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s an event, how do you feel about it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Though his uncle was a firefighter, watching hundreds of New York City first responders arrive on the scene, immediately run into the Twin Towers and lay their lives on the line to help others in need became the catalyst for Weatherman\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Los Alamitos<\/a> High School in 2007, Weatherman became an emergency medical technician himself. But life quickly brought him back to campus after he was offered a job teaching emergency response and fire tech classes he had once taken.<\/p>\n

Now, he prepares students for the dangerous, selfless line of work that 9\/11 inspired him to get into.<\/p>\n

Keeping the memory of 9\/11 alive \u2014 and honoring the lives lost and the sacrifices made \u2014 is an important part of many Southern California classrooms this time of year. But the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93\u2019s crash in Pennsylvania are now almost a quarter-century old, years before any students learning of the tragedy in school today were even born.<\/p>\n

Making sure that remembrance is passed down is why Nancy Karcher takes her Orangethorpe Elementary School class \u2014 ranging from kindergarteners to third graders \u2014 on a field trip to the home of Fullerton<\/a> firefighter Scott Townley, who transforms his home into a 9\/11 memorial each year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eight-year-old Hayden Simao said he\u2019s been \u201cexcited\u201d to join his classmates in learning about 9\/11 and is looking forward to touring Townley\u2019s memorial this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little happy because he\u2019s letting us be there, to be a part of it,\u201d Simao said.<\/p>\n

The field trip has become an annual tradition for the class since first going in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tradition for us now,\u201d 10-year-old Mia Valencia said of the annual trek. She has led her classmates in singing the national anthem several times during the excursion, in honor of those killed on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the best thing about 9\/11 is that even though a bad guy could want to destroy America, like to be more separate, it brought us more united.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a part of our history, and we should learn from it and grow,\u201d Karcher said. \u201cTeaching them through stories, going to the memorial, hearing Mr. Townley speak brings it alive \u2014 that this is something that really happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryann<\/p>\n

Ryann Sutter, a student in the Fire Tech program at Los Alamitos High School, helps organize dozens of small American flags that will be used in the creation of a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School third-grader Hayden Simao and his classmates have been learning about 9\/11 ahead of its 25th anniversary. It\u2019s part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School third-grader Hayden Simao and his classmates have been learning about 9\/11 ahead of its 25th anniversary. It\u2019s part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

Billy Williams, a freshman at Los Alamitos High School, paints a strip of cardboard that will be used in a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during his Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Students in the Fire Tech program at Los Alamitos High School paint strips of cardboard that will be used in a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance at the school next week, during their Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Dutch<\/p>\n

Dutch Stephens, a senior at Los Alamitos High School, holds up dozens of small American flags as he helps organize them for use in a memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance at the school next week, during his Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Collin<\/p>\n

Collin Bensavage, left, a senior at Los Alamitos High School, and Billy Williams, a freshman, paint strips of cardboard that will be used in a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance at the school next week, during their Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Alamitos High School Fire Tech program students Matthew Borgen, George Ten Eyck and Ryann Sutter, from left, help organize dozens of small American flags that will be used in the creation of a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during their class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Alamitos High School Fire Tech program students John Castillo, left, a senior, and Trevor Feldman, a sophomore, paint strips of cardboard that will be used in the creation of a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during their class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Collin<\/p>\n

Collin Bensavage, left, a senior at Los Alamitos High School, and Billy Williams, a freshman, paint strips of cardboard that will be used in a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance at the school next week, during their Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Alamitos High School Fire Tech program students John Castillo, left, a senior, and Trevor Feldman, a sophomore, paint strips of cardboard that will be used in the creation of a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during their class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Dutch<\/p>\n

Dutch Stephens, a senior at Los Alamitos High School, holds up dozens of small American flags as he helps organize them for use in a memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance at the school next week, during his Fire Tech class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Ryan Weatherman, a Fire Tech teacher at Los Alamitos High School, shows his students a rendering of a memorial they will be creating to honor the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, which will be unveiled during a remembrance event at the school next week, as he gives them instructions in his classroom in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School third-grader Hayden Simao and his classmates have been learning about 9\/11 ahead of its 25th anniversary. It\u2019s part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School third-grader Hayden Simao and his classmates have been learning about 9\/11 ahead of its 25th anniversary. It\u2019s part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School fifth-grader Mia Valencia reads to her classmates a book about 9\/11. She and her classmates are learning about 9\/11 as part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

\"Orangethorpe<\/p>\n

Orangethorpe Elementary School fifth-grader Mia Valencia reads to her classmates a book about 9\/11. She and her classmates are learning about 9\/11 as part of a school tradition led by teacher Nancy Karcher. (Photo by Victoria Le, Orange County Register)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 17<\/p>\n

Ryann Sutter, a student in the Fire Tech program at Los Alamitos High School, helps organize dozens of small American flags that will be used in the creation of a 9\/11 memorial honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9\/11, during class at the school in Los Alamitos on Friday, September 4, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Every generation has historical moments that stick with it, said Doug McDermott, a teacher at Ulysses S. Grant High School<\/a> in Los Angeles<\/a> and chair of the school\u2019s history department.<\/p>\n

But even though each generation goes through its own historical moment, McDermott makes it a priority to ensure that the historically significant events of past generations won\u2019t be forgotten by the next one.<\/p>\n

McDermott still spends about 15 minutes each Sept. 11 telling students his 9\/11 experience: He was about to head off to his second day in a classroom, teaching seventh grade at Olive Vista Middle School<\/a> in Sylmar. Before leaving for work, he turned on the television and saw smoke coming from the North Tower of the World Trade Center Complex. As he watched, the second plane entered the frame and struck the South Tower.<\/p>\n

His 11th-grade students, though, have no such memories. Most of them have heard about 9\/11 through stories from their parents.<\/p>\n

But he expects even that connection to change. Soon, students will have learned about the attacks through memories and stories from their grandparents, he said.<\/p>\n

Linking past to the present keeps 9\/11 connection alive<\/p>\n

Charles Wu<\/a>, a senior at Beckman High School<\/a> in Irvine<\/a>, said his schools have held a moment of silence following the morning pledge of allegiance each year around Sept. 11. And Wu\u2019s understanding of 9\/11 \u2014 which happened about eight years before he was born \u2014 was influenced by his mother\u2019s story of being in New York and actually visiting one of the Twin Towers just months before the attacks unfolded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the impact, and how much devastation that it caused to the country and its people, I think for me it still carries a lot of weight,\u201d Wu said. \u201cI have a lot of respect and admiration for the firefighters, the police officers who risked their lives to provide aid to those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that feeling isn\u2019t always shared by his peers, Wu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to say (some of my classmates) don\u2019t care about the event; they\u2019re just not as involved, or they don\u2019t feel as much emotion towards the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Amy Hale<\/a>, who just started her 27th year teaching eighth grade U.S. history at Santiago Middle School<\/a> in Orange<\/a>, noticed a shift in her students\u2019 feelings toward 9\/11 about 15 years ago. Apathy toward these tragedies, especially 9\/11, has only grown as time has passed, Hale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely just a meme to them. They don\u2019t even really see it as, unfortunately, something tragic or anything that really brought our country together. I don\u2019t think they have the same feelings of patriotism towards our country to begin with,\u201d Hale said. \u201cTrying to get them to care about anything is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hale said she used to show documentaries, news broadcasts and other visual media to her students as part of their education around 9\/11, leading up to an assignment where students had to interview people in their lives with memories of that day.<\/p>\n

About 10 years ago, Hale began requiring that students only speak to people born before a certain date. Ultimately, she also did away with the in-class video component altogether because her students\u2019 attention spans were waning so much, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really don\u2019t have the stamina to focus more than their little TikTok videos. Unfortunately, like showing movies in class anymore, if it\u2019s longer than a 10-minute video, they just shut off,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how exciting it is, it\u2019s too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weatherman of Los Alamitos High School \u2014 who teaches the ins and outs of the dangerous, selfless trade that is being a first responder \u2014 wouldn\u2019t describe his students\u2019 initial feelings toward 9\/11 as apathy, although he acknowledges students in his class may be predisposed to have a more sentimental connection to the event, since they are in elective classes that set them up for careers as first responders.<\/p>\n

Still, Weatherman said, he makes a point to show students exactly what kind of sacrifice was made by the 343 New York firefighters on that day in 2001, that it\u2019s not just another detail in an otherwise momentous tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents that young are still kind of self-centered, which is part of their development. So it helps them shift from being self-centered to kind of an altruistic view,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to help people; it\u2019s about service to others. And I think that\u2019s the really cool part of teaching 9\/11, that these first responders were looking out for the betterment of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwin Pastor, 16, a junior at Canoga Park High School<\/a> in Los Angeles, said he first learned about Sept. 11 in middle school and remembered watching videos of the attacks. The images initially seemed almost unreal to him.<\/p>\n

Sept. 11 does not feel like ancient history to Paster, he said. He also sees value in continuing to teach it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything they teach is about the past,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good, valuable lesson\u201d for preventing future mistakes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a key part of the work high school students do in Paul Hoxie\u2019s U.S. history class at Redlands Adventist Academy in San Bernardino County each year: connect the past to the present.<\/p>\n

Sept. 11, he said, is the genesis of a historical throughline that connects \u201cnearly every major event in the last 25 years of United States history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each year, Hoxie first tasks his students with creating a broad timeline of that Tuesday, using resources from the 9\/11 Memorial & Museum such as flight records and early cell phone footage of the attacks, he said. Once students are finished broadly putting the events in order, Hoxie jumps straight into narratives of that day.<\/p>\n

Though they start with the timeline, Hoxie said it\u2019s his goal to expand his students\u2019 understanding of Sept. 11 beyond a series of events, that it\u2019s \u201ca real day that impacted the lives of real people who were working a normal job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their final assignment is to interview a family member, teacher or someone they know who was alive and remembers 9\/11, followed by a class-wide discussion, Hoxie said. His students, once they can connect with a story, are taken aback by the scale of devastation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents often think that the only impact is taking off shoes at the Transportation Security Administration, but the implications of 9\/11 stretch much further than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe obvious connections would be the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is also a connection to the rise of (President Barack) Obama as a response to the Bush years, and then the response of the Trump era to the Bush years. You could include events like the Tea Party and even Occupy Wall Street in the downstream impact from 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his fire technology classes\u2019 activities leading up to the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Weatherman is also tasking his students with creating a \u201c343\u201d art piece that will be unveiled as part of a ceremony on Friday. The memorial project symbolizes the 343 firefighters who lost their lives while trying to get people out of the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n

His two fire tech classes \u2014 with help from Los Alamitos High\u2019s art department, which built the art piece\u2019s wooden frame \u2014 will construct it throughout the week leading up to Sept. 11. Students in each class will also fill the wooden frame with 343 American flags, as a way to honor those firefighters and remind themselves what kind of career they may be stepping into.<\/p>\n

Weatherman\u2019s students, as well as students from the school\u2019s music and videography classes, plan to hold a flagpole ceremony.<\/p>\n

Weatherman\u2019s lesson to his students:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a family, and this is somebody who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of other people,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not just a piece of wood and a piece of cloth that you\u2019re putting in. \u2026 These are people who were doing a career, a job, that you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Ryan Weatherman, his seventh-grade year started out in 2001 just like any other. Like many young boys,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,15,2628,610,2462,131,133,132,17306,47,137,100,171,611,8633,5518,154082,136],"class_list":["post-455483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-education","tag-fullerton","tag-inland-empire","tag-irvine","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-alamitos","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news","tag-orange","tag-orange-county","tag-redlands","tag-san-bernardino-county","tag-sept-11","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}