By J1 Reporter Kendyll Tibke

On 9/11, Cole Tibke rolled out of bed a little late just like any other regular Tuesday morning. He got into his pick-up and started making the short drive to school. He was a junior at Bennington High School at the time. It’s scary how quick just a normal, laid back morning can switch to on-edge and catastrophic. 

“I heard about the first plane on the radio,” he says, “I really didn’t think too much about it…I just thought it was an accident or a mistake.” So, he kept driving to school.

Then, a few minutes later, he heard about the second plane through the radio. “It made me really mad…I knew exactly what had happened when I heard that the second plane crashed into the tower,” he says. He also said that he got a weird feeling in his stomach. Knowing that innocent Americans were dying because of terrorist attacks made him feel uneasy and sick. He walked into school, and when he got to his homeroom class, he joined all of his classmates on the floor who were crowded around a small television watching the news channel. 

Tibke says that this made him more cautious of his surroundings. Now he knows that anything can happen, especially in public places like airports. He says that security is way more enforced now than it was before 9/11. 

He was then asked why young people should care about 9/11 and its effects on the world. “They should care because 9/11 is an important event in history that we need to grow from as a nation,” he said, “we need to remember and honor those that sacrificed their lives—forever.”

Do you have a 9/11 story or memory to share? If so, please share in the comments.