9/11 Survivor Shares His Story With Jenks Students Born After 2001

High school students across Oklahoma belong to a generation with no personal memory of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Parents, educators, and members of the Jenks community gathered to help students understand what happened more than two decades ago.

Every September, people relive where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

"We watched the first tower fall. At the time, we assumed that it was some tragic accident, that nobody would fly an airplane into that building," said Former Oklahoma Congressman, Jim Bridenstine.

Others, like Tim Veldstra, shared what it was like to actually live it. Veldstra was on the 61st floor of the second tower when the plane crashed into the building. He shared his story with kids who can only read about the tragic events in history books.

He says it's still hard to talk about 22 years later but he knows it is important for today's kids to understand the significance of the day.

"Many, many things that are not a part of the story. Too graphic, too emotional, too hard," said Veldstra. "We are 22 years in and I have shared my story and everyone wants to tell me where they were when it happened, but here we have a bunch of kids. They were not alive and it's awesome to know they care and they want to be involved. It's wonderful."