As someone born in 2007, North Attleborough High School Junior Sarah Kopp has no memories of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.
Despite this, Kopp and her fellow students chose to remember that day by creating a new memorial at NAHS.
Kopp and 25 other students spent the morning of Sept. 9 planting 2,977 flags and several signs along Wilson Whitty Way to create the first annual NorthServes 9/11 Memorial Flag Garden.
Measuring the area and drilling holes in the ground for each flag, Kopp and her peers wanted toto honor the 2.977 victims who lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 Plane Crash.
“I just felt it was very important to display and remember,” Kopp said “I remember learning about 9/11 when I was in first grade,”
Bahbi Mood, a sophomore, said he too learned about the events of September 11 in first grade. Mood spent most of Saturday morning planting flags and assisting with measurements. He said he wanted to remember the events of the day, despite not being born at the time of the attacks.
““I think having the flags in front of the school is a good way to commemorate those lives who were lost,” Mood said. “Remembering the lives that were lost, and that we can’t forget.”
The flags and signs were provided by the Friends of North Attleborough Veterans group and the American Legion Post 49.
NAHS Principal Peter Haviland and North Attleborough Middle School teacher Todd Vigorito both helped supervise the project and provide assistance for the students. Haviland said he was proud of the 26 volunteers for taking time out of their weekends to create the flag garden.
“It’s refreshing to see kids who weren’t even alive on 9/11 to honor those who we lost on 9/11,” Haviland said. “It’s good to see them understand what it is like for our country and understand those who are grieving the loss of loved ones and how the country grieves the loss of its citizens.”
Haviland was not the only person moved by the volunteer work of the 26 students.
Paul Follett, a veteran, saw the work done at NAHS and said the students were doing a service not just for the town, but for the entire country as a whole.
“It’s worth it, because the kids remember it,” Follett said. “It’s wonderful. Just wonderful.”
