Twelve years ago today, panic was felt all around the country as one of the worst terrorist attacks in United States history took place in New York City, Washington D.C. and Sharksville, Pennsylvania.

Here we are in 2013, and the gravity of the situation on September 11th, 2001 hurts the hearts of many students and faculty at Parkway Central.

Senior Jennifer Rubin, an advocate for BackStoppers (a foundation that aides families of emergency responders who were killed in the line of duty), said this is a day that is very overwhelming to her.

“Originally I had just thought the terrorists had hijacked empty planes, and I didn’t realize there were all these civilians on there, which is a big part because there were so many people killed that day who were people on planes, workers at the World Trade Center, and emergency responders,” Rubin said. “ Just thinking about the types of innocent people killed that day is overwhelming.”

Although the memory of the day is still depressing, Rubin does feel safer with the persistence of our country’s law enforcement.

“ I feel like if there is going to be an act of terrorism there will be a way to make it not as bad as it seems at first,” Rubin said. “I feel like we’re safe because they’re (law enforcement) going to keep looking and find whoever is terrorizing and stop the threat.”

Some students agree with Rubin, and do feel safer since 9/11, but some students think the United States may be “too safe.”

“I do feel safe,” senior Garrett Greeves said. “But i’m annoyed that our airports seem like they are under a constant national security threat with the over anxious baggage checks and overzealous security.”

Most students at Parkway Central have to go back to the days of Kindergarten and Pre-K to remember 9/11, as for some faculty members the tragic day twelve years ago is still fresh in their memory.

“I was actually taking care of my two-year old son at the time who was home sick,” 10th grade principal Travis Fast said. “ Because of that I was able to watch most of it (terrorist attacks) on t.v.”

With the sad and terrible memory in mind, Fast says he is thankful the United States hasn’t had a situation so significant in our complicated world since 9/11.