By J1 Reporter Olivia Langdon

Most can remember where they were on 9/11, many can say they knew someone directly affected, but even less can say they were directly involved. Steve Peters was working as the Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Nebraska at Omaha when two planes hit the Twin Towers. During a meeting with his boss, a colleague informed them that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers.

 The meeting was adjourned and Peters joined his colleagues around a TV to watch the news. They all watched on the TV as a plane hit the second tower, which Peters says is something that particularly sticks with him. “Every generation has something that they remember that they were impacted by, for some it was the Vietnam War, for some the John F. Kennedy assination, for mine it was 9/11.” Peters said. On his way to another meeting, Peters notes how everyone was just standing around confused and unsure of what they should really do. 

The University of Nebraska at Omaha had to alert many faculty members and community members, because they were a part of the Afghan Studies Program. UNO is a central hub for research and information on Afghanistan studies. The university was contacted by the federal government on Sept. 11 for information about Afghanistan relating to bin Laden. Their research department became vital to the search for bin Laden. 

Peters had to release a press statement about the faculty and details relating to the Afghan Studies program and 9/11. He distinctly remembers how quickly travel changed after 9/11, within a week TSA was created to help prevent another event like this happening.

A key takeaway Peters wants people to learn from the events of 9/11 is that the United States as a nation is vulnerable. No one expected this to happen, yet it did and it could happen again. This all happened because the U.S. invaded other countries and a couple people got angry and wanted revenge. This could happen again and this nation must be better prepared.