{"id":397921,"date":"2026-09-12T13:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397921\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:52:16","slug":"how-usfsp-veterans-memorialize-25-years-since-the-attacks-of-9-11-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397921\/","title":{"rendered":"How USFSP veterans memorialize 25 years since the attacks\u00a0of\u00a09\/11 \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was shaken when four passenger jets were hijacked, two were flown\u00a0into the World Trade Center towers, a third into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashing into a Pennsylvania field after passengers revolted against the hijackers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attacks changed the course of U.S. history, with 2,977\u00a0casualties.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many citizens watched the events unfold live on\u00a0television.\u00a0According to veteran and junior personal financial planning major Thomas Wells, the events influenced many to enlist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Many student veterans] entered service after Sept. 11, 2001. Most of us were alive during the events of September 11th. We all have vivid memories of our teachers rolling in TVs for us to watch what was happening in real time and a lot of us decided to join the service because of those events,\u201d Wells told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other veterans grew up with family members in the military and experienced firsthand how quickly the Armed Forces mobilized.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Veteran and biological health sciences major Roger Edwards recalled his experience during the attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u00a0was in fourth grade. I was in a school of\u00a0predominantly nothing\u00a0but military kids\u2026 and we had to get on the school bus with supervision to be escorted home because of who we were and where we were living at the time\u2026 My mom\u2019s unit was activated within that week to go overseas. I think at the time, I was like, \u2018Okay, she\u2019s going on a trip.\u2019 I just\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0understand\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this year marking 25 years since\u00a0Sept. 11,\u00a02001,\u00a0Edwards emphasized the importance of unity across the United States and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think looking back at when we first had\u00a0[the attacks]\u00a0and then to today, we have a lot of nationalism, but we\u2019re forgetting about patriotism,\u201d Edwards said.\u00a0\u201c\u2026 We focus more on an international level of national representation and how we compete with other countries. We should be more allied.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of the students on campus were not alive during the events, so they may not feel much connection to this anniversary.\u00a0Freshman\u00a0marine biology major and military-connected student Alanah McMahon pointed out how foreign of a concept the attacks can feel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0kind of hard\u00a0to wrap my head around.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0had a lot of people who did experience it, but I\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0even a thought, so,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0like history to me,\u201d McMahon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wells highlighted that although a\u00a0seemingly long\u00a0amount of time has passed,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important to remember that the effects of Sept. 11 are still being felt today by many people, especially veterans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of healing as a nation, but at the same time\u2026the generation that served\u00a0as a result of\u00a0that attack and the people who went overseas to respond to that attack,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0still around.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0still very much part of our society,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0part of our campus and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a unique time because although\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a milestone, there\u2019s still lingering effects that bleed throughout our campus and our society at large,\u201d Wells\u00a0stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To honor the\u00a025th\u00a0year\u00a0since the attacks, veterans are partaking in different traditions. One of these is the \u201cMurph Hero Workout,\u201d which has been used by many veterans as a tradition on military holidays.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter school, every year, my\u00a0friends\u00a0and I will do a [Murph] workout. Even if\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not with them,\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0do it online together and\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0share the time\u2026 I feel like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a good way\u00a0to remember the pain that I had to go through back then physically,\u201d Edwards said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wells is going to honor the 25th\u00a0year\u00a0since the tragic events of 9\/11 by\u00a0participating\u00a0in the\u00a0sixth annual 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb<\/a>\u00a0hosted by The Tampa Bay Rowdies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The stair\u00a0climb\u00a0entails a group of veterans, active military members, and first responders climbing 2,200 stairs equivalent to the 110 stories of the World Trade Center.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m choosing to participate in this event because on a lot of these military observances and a lot of these military holidays, it\u2019s easy to self-isolate and it\u2019s easy to find yourself alone and a lot of times that\u2019s not a healthy thing to do,\u201d Wells told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wells\u00a0emphasized the connection between fostering community between veterans, especially on military holidays and memorialized days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels better to be around the people that have a shared experience and we can all endure a little bit of suffering together, climbing these stairs and try to have a positive day and still honor and memorialize those people that paid the ultimate sacrifice as a result of the terror attacks of 9\/11,\u201d Wells said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edwards\u00a0echoed a similar sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best thing for me currently,\u201d Edwards told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest,\u00a0\u201c\u2026is just understanding that time is minimal and spending it with people that I care about or reaching out to military members I served with and letting them know I\u2019m here for them if they need anything because we all joined during the time of that war.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 167 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Secilia Ruiz<\/a> on September 11, 2026.
Last revised by: Cole Maines<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was shaken when four passenger jets were hijacked, two were flown\u00a0into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-397921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}