Youth group earns grant to teach about Sept. 11

LAURINBURG — There are things that should always be remembered, and September 11, 2001 is one of them.

For Dorothy Tyson, she’s on a mission to make sure that day and the families of the 9/11 victims are never forgotten.

Laurinburg has been selected as one of the 75 communities chosen to lead public memorial locations in America for the 2nd Annual 9/11 DAY Flag of Honor Across America Memorials.

And thanks to a $2,000 grant from Global Youth Justice and Americorps, Tyson, through Scots for Youth services will be able to provide lessons on 9/11 that can keep the memory of what happened that day.

“This is like a community service learning project for youth,” she said. “And the youth that are involved in this are already participating in Scots for Youth Teen Court. With this, we’re using resources from the 9/11 Memorial, resources from Global Youth Justice, and resources from the Smithsonian Institute. We have lesson plans that are available that we can incorporate also.”

Tyson said this will be a great opportunity for young people and she hopes that they will share what they learn about 9/11 with their friends.

“Some of the youth were not born at that time so they are not as familiar with 9/11 as others are. In some states, it has become a part of their curriculum and they teach 9/11. That’s not true with North Carolina as of yet,” Tyson said.

But because that day is such an important part of history, Tyson said it has to be remembered.

“When this happened, it was told to the families that we would never forget. Meaning that we would keep those that perished, we would keep their memory alive. Also, we have over 6, 000 names that are being read this year. And that includes over 4,000 people that were emergency workers, law enforcement, these are those that have died because of other illnesses associated with 9/11. We’re also including the names of eight children that died in the plane crashes,” she said.

Tyson said as she printed the names and bios of the children who died during the 9/11 attacks, it brought tears to her eyes.

“The youngest one I think was a one-year-old and in some instances, you have entire families perish. Our youth needs to know about 9/11 and what it did to our country and how it brought our country together as one. Everyone was helping each other, everyone was lending a hand, everyone wanted to make sure everyone was okay. We don’t need to have something like this to happen again for us to come together as one,” she said.