TIFFIN, OH (WTOL) - On the north bank of the Sandusky River Monday, 650 Tiffin Middle School students spent their lunch break outside at the Tiffin Police and Fire All Patriots Memorial.
The steel girder from the World Trade Center at the memorial is a physical reminder of what happened 16 years ago.
"This is very important for the community. And to understand that there's only about 2,700 pieces of steel artifacts that have been released, and we have one of the larger ones in Ohio," said Chairman of the All Patriots Memorial Committee Chris Hafley.
The school choir sang, and the students listened to speakers.
Event organizers also know how important it is to continue the memory of what happen 16 years ago because none of the students in attendance were alive when the attack happened.
"So we really wanted to create a space where students can ask questions and learn about the effects it has had on our country, how things have kind of changed," said teacher Amy Dindinger
The students are also participating in the Community Read program through the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, and will be reading "Thunderdog" by Michael Hingson, a blind man who escaped the North Tower with the assistance of his guide dog.
The hope is these students can develop a strong sense of our country's present by understand the past.
"And if we don't learn from what we have, it's really difficult to move forward," Dindinger said. "And we need to continuously hold remembrance for those who were lost and those who continue to keep safe everyday."
The author of the book will also be speaking to the school in the spring.
