Spokane-area high schoolers talk about how 9/11 has shaped their lives
Hunter Scott, 15
Sophomore, East Valley
Hunter Scott wants to be a Marine. At age 4, he saw the movie “Three Kings” about the Persian Gulf War and fell in love with the idea of being a soldier.
“I thought it was just the coolest movie ever,” he said.
If he joins, there’s a good chance he’ll be deployed to the Middle East, especially since he wants to make the military a career.
Scott has a deep sense of patriotism, some of which he garnered after learning about 9/11. He’d heard of the date and its significance when he was younger, but it wasn’t until he was 11 or 12 that he fully comprehended it.
Now, he feels a duty to his country and a need to help other countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan.
“If we were a country like that, we would need the help,” he said.
Katie McCune, 15
Sophomore, Ferris
Katie McCune has learned about 9/11 just about every September since she was in sixth grade, even in her freshman photography class.
“I just remember thinking, ‘Why would anyone do that?’ ” she said. “Being so innocent, I didn’t know people had the ability to do something like that.”
McCune’s father grew up in New York and has family there. She said he remembers seeing the World Trade Center “as a big symbol.”
“I think it’s a horrible thing that happened, but you have to think about it not as something as horrible, but you have to think about how it helped us unify,” she said.
Michael Veltri, 16
Junior, Medical Lake
Michael Veltri’s father spent 24 years in the Air Force. But Veltri doesn’t want to follow in his footsteps; he’d rather play football or practice sports medicine.
As a military brat, he’s moved across the country. His dad and grandparents told him about 9/11 when he was 6.
“They told me it was a bombing in New York City, and it pretty much stopped everything for a few days,” Veltri said.
In the years that followed, Veltri thought of 9/11 like he thought of Pearl Harbor: A day in the distant past that, while tragic, had no bearing on the present. But then last year, one of Veltri’s teachers set the record straight.
“She said the whole nation was struck, and it was a tragic moment for all of us,” Veltri said. “The day stood still.”
Lourd Nafea, 15
Sophomore, Ferris
Lourd Nafea was born in Baghdad and was 2 when the United States invaded in 2003. Before the civil war in Syria began, she and her family would spend time in Damascus to escape the turmoil in Iraq.
“It was literally perfect compared to Iraq,” she said.
When she was 6, she started to learn about 9/11 and the events leading up to the U.S. involvement in her country.
“I didn’t really understand it at the time,” she said. “They were like, ‘Oh, something happened in America.’ ” To which she remembers thinking, “What is the big deal if it happens in Iraq all the time?
“Now that I’m thinking about it, it is a big deal,” she said. “That was the first big bombing that happened (in the United States).”
Alicia Bliss, 15
Freshman, East Valley
A few years before Alicia Bliss was born, the United States was involved in a handful of wars and skirmishes.
But after 9/11, the United States has had nearly constant troop activity in the Middle East. And they’re still deployed in Afghanistan, 15 years later.
“I think war, in general, is sad and it sucks,” Bliss said. “But I don’t really know what to do. It’s just something that’s happening and there’s really no end to it.”
Bliss recognizes the tragedy of 9/11, learning about it in the third or fourth grade. She remembers her mom telling her about how “bad people took over the planes and crashed them.”
“It makes me sad,” she said. “They killed so many people without thinking of the consequences.”
Joann DeStout, 16
Junior, Medical Lake
When Joann DeStout was a toddler, she lived with her family in Germany. Her dad was an Army medic, so when the planes hit the towers, and when America invaded Afghanistan, he was deployed.
“When I was really young, I didn’t get to see him that often,” she said. “I would maybe see him for a week. Then he’d have to go back.”
Her parents wanted her to understand history, so they told her about 9/11 and made sure she had a firm grasp of what happened that day. She knows about how security has tightened across the nation and how everyone is just a little more careful.
But there’s a difference between knowing and agreeing. Because of increased security on military bases, she and her choir group may not get to perform at Fairchild Air Force Base.
Brock Chapman, 16
Sophomore, East Valley
“My grandma gave me an interesting perspective,” Brock Chapman said.
He looks forward, hands cupped and resting on the table. “Most of the kids who grew up to be terrorists, they were just raised like that. It’s not their fault.”
Chapman realizes the vitriol many Americans feel toward Muslims, whether it’s rooted in 9/11 or not. From what he can remember, things have just always been that way.
He wants to join the Army and become a paratrooper like his uncle. If anything, Chapman hopes he can do his part to help rebuild the public trust in troops and police officers.
“I want to protect our country and fight for our freedoms,” he said. “I feel there’s a lot of discrimination toward people who do, toward people who protect us.”
Justyce Cogswell, 17
Junior, Medical Lake
Justyce Cogswell’s mother was at the Carrie Underwood concert last week. The whole time, Cogswell had a “what if?” scenario running through the back of her mind.
“There’s always this underlying feeling that something might happen,” she said. “Before 9/11, it was there, but we didn’t think about it very much.”
She doesn’t remember what it was like to fly before the TSA and security checkpoints delayed the check-in process, but she says she doesn’t mind having to take off her shoes or go through a metal detector.
“I just think it’s another way to try and keep our country safe,” she said.
Daylon Tyler, 15
Sophomore, Ferris
Daylon Tyler doesn’t really get why people don’t like President Barack Obama. After all, even if you can’t agree with him on his policies, he was in office when Osama bin Laden was killed.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t critical of his president. Now that bin Laden is dead, Tyler thinks the United States should withdraw from the Middle East.
“He was our main target, our main problem,” he said. “As soon as we killed him, we should have been out of there.”
At the same time, however, Tyler thinks it’s not a bad idea to combat terrorism.
“We’ve got to protect ourselves,” he said. “If they’re going to keep coming, or if anyone keeps coming, we have to keep going.”
Sofia Novochekhova, 17
Junior, Medical Lake
Sofia Novochekhova was born in Russia. In 2005, when she was 5, she moved to the United States.
Her parents told her what happened on Sept. 12, 2001 – the day they learned of the attack.
“My dad thought it was a movie trailer or something,” she said. She recalls him saying, “There’s no way this is real life.”
As a kid, she didn’t really understand the gravity of that day.
Then last summer, she picked a movie related to U.S. history for her Advanced Placement civics class, choosing a documentary on 9/11.
“It hit me so hard,” she said.
“Being a foreigner, it didn’t affect me directly or my family directly,” she said. “But terror is terror. We knew that it’s bad.”
Kennedy Larson, 14
Freshman, East Valley
One of Kennedy Larson’s best friends is Muslim. She sees on the news how many Americans hate her friend’s religion and culture.
It wasn’t until her mother told her about 9/11, however, about how extremists hijacked those planes that day, that Larson put it together.
“That kind of started the idea that all Muslims are terrorists,” she said. “It just so happens that a lot of white males happened to shoot up schools, but nobody said, ‘No white males are allowed to come into this country.’ ”
Larson believes in freedom for all. She’s OK with extra security at airports and with the government listening in on conversations.
She’s even OK with screening people who want to come into the United States.
Bjorn Rossow, 15
Sophomore, Ferris
Bjorn Rossow, like many high schoolers his age, has a cellphone. And like many high schoolers his age, he uses it. A lot.
On Oct. 26, 2001, the Patriot Act was signed into law after concern of future attacks swept the nation. It paved the groundwork for the National Security Agency to spy on Americans’ emails, phone conversations and internet searches.
While many believe this to be a clear invasion of privacy, there are some who figure it’s better than nothing. And, if they’re not doing anything wrong, there’s no reason to be worried.
For Rossow, he’s OK with the thought of the government checking through the phone attached to his hip – but only if it helps.