good evening thank you for joining us on this 23rd anniversary of the September 11th attacks every year students learn about that faithful day and the events that unfolded with local school districts creating special lesson plans for their students Fox Illinois Monique Davis is working for you to share the preparation school districts made to educate students about this historic event Monique I sat down with staff from District 186 and Williamsville Sherman and they emphasized the importance of making sure students of this current generation understand the significance of how this event impacted history it's been such a long time ago that uh we need to make sure that we remember the events that occurred unfortunately on that day and provide that information and instruction in our classrooms at 8:46 Wednesday morning the entire Sherman School District observed a moment of silence to commemorate the events of 91 inside the classroom history teachers like Josh Granton engag students in discussion about the aftermath of 9/11 and what effects it still has today first hour we talked about September 12th right that Unity that we saw as a nation right we haven't really seen a whole lot of things like that since then second hour that kind of moved into questions about immigration with these big events going on with the security things like that how are things like this still able to happen so third hour they brought up the question of gun violence Granton said says remembering 911 goes beyond one day a lot of people think it's just past the past we're in the now right but I always try and connect things that happen back then into what's going on right now in District 186 teachers like Andy vper share CNN news coverage so students can see in real time how many lives were affected started at 8:49 a.m. when the first plane hit when people thought it was an accident and then we show the second plane then the Pentagon and then we end with the uh Flight 93 crashing in Pennsylvania and so they're able to see in 9 minutes the course of how it went from oh my gosh what what a terrible accident to oh now we're War vulp also makes sure to connect with students on a personal level people who are their parents and grandparents age may have been in New York New York City that day and what would they have done if they'd been a fireman or if they'd been at the above the the Impact Zone of the Twin Towers or what if they' been on flight 93 what would they have done if they found out that three other planes have been kidnapped that morning and you might be on the fourth one and Williamsville Sherman superintendent tip Rey says English teachers also created writing prompts leading up to today reporting live in Springfield I'm Monique Davis thank you Monique the Sherman School District also read a statement to students to commemorate Patriot Day and employees at ADM indicat are honoring First Responders by taking on the 911 memorial stair Climb by doing 28 laps of stairs at the Hampton Inn and the stair climb is not the only thing they do to honor those that lost their lives that day we try really hard while we're here to have things that you can see and interact and feel while you're here we have pieces that were at the at the World Trade Centers at Ground Zero we have a flag for every person who lost their life 2,977 people died and we have an American flag for every single one of them those 28 laps are equal to the 144 flights of stairs the First Responders climbed on that day in 200 one and First Responders is also receiving a free lunch from 343 barbecue at South and Central Parks indicator the annual events is just another way the community looks to honor our First Responders on 9911 it was also open to the public where there could buy a lunch with the proceeds helping to provide more food for those First [Music] Responders 20 3 years later and the image is that 911 brings still haun's First Responders and those who witnessed the attacks Fox Illinois Carolina hasset got a chance to talk to a man who was not only a witness that day but spent six months helping with recovery efforts looked at this lady and I and I said again I says did you find your loved one and she looked at me and she shook her head she said no we never found my daughter Richard Jersy lived in Brooklyn during the 9/11 Terror attacks he tells me he relives the painful memories every year sometimes I have nightmares tury said that morning felt like just a normal day until he saw a plane flying low near the towers we looked up and you seen the guy flying the plane that's how low it was and the plane was just going like from side to side across the Hudson River and then Bang into into the other Tower tury worked at a warehouse nearby and was asked to help First Responders with the clean up and recovery efforts he spent 20 hours a day going through Rubble taking what needed to be burned to the sanitation facility including seeing victims who were killed in the attacks you went into that room it was all metal tables with different kind of body parts on it one minute moments he says will live in his mind forever she a shoe and like I was coming out of the thing coming out of one of the piles and I walked over and I pulled this thing out it was a bottom part of a little girl tury says his family got him through that painful time and while it was the first time in a long time the state of New York came together he'll never forget the aftermath it's still it's still have hate in my heart and sadness that was Carolina hasset reporting tery says he remembers his name being mentioned during a na of Congress when they dedicated a day to read off all of the names who helped during that time don't miss a video subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more Central Illinois news