GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — This Sunday marks the 21-year anniversary of the attack on the twin towers, changing the course of U.S. History. Now, that deadly day is taught as a history lesson in schools all across the country including in West Michigan.
When Innovation Central High School students sit down for class this time of year, they learn a part of history that they themselves did not live through.
Lisa Orban-Cowley, a U.S. History teacher at the high school has taught for about 20 years and each year when she teaches the events of 9/11, students are more and more removed from the events of that fateful day.
"It’s definitely changed. The emotional impact isn’t there as much today," she said.
However, that emotional impact is still there for a lot of us who knew someone that was affected directly or indirectly, including Orban-Cowley herself.
“Hearing they hit the Pentagon, my aunt worked in the Pentagon at the time. Wondering and reaching out to my mom if she had heard," she said about her personal experiences.
Now, 21 years later, Orban-Cowley is teaching what she and thousands of others went through to her class. The day itself is used as a time for reflection. But the aftermath of that day and the War on Terror is not left out of lesson plans.
“The War on Terrorism, all of that is a standard," Orban-Cowley said.
It's standard for students to learn about the war and how it may relate to current events.
“Connecting it to what we're seeing in pulling out Afghanistan in recent years and also what's going on in Ukraine," Orban-Cowley said.
The students use venn diagrams to compare news articles from 2001 and watch videos of firsthand accounts. New technology also being used as a tool to learn about the past, on a topic the country will never forget.
