History repeats itself. From concentration camps to civil wars, one may pick up any history book and discover that “learning from past mistakes” may take two mistakes… or three… or four in order to adequately learn. Perhaps, then, a lack of knowledge is to blame for such repetition. Unequivocally, it is the job of teachers to teach their students the knowledge needed to perfect the past’s imperfections in the future. While one teacher may embed World War II into their curriculum and others may embed the American Civil War, it is important that September 9, 2001 is never forgotten year after year.

This year, respect was in the air on September 9, 2018 at Yorba Linda High School. Despite the fact that many students were not alive when the horrible incident occurred, hundreds of students bowed their heads out of respect for the thousands of individuals who lost mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and friends seventeen years ago. Respect is the only word to describe the actions taken in remembrance of the horrific action.

From a school wide tribute and a moment of silence over the loudspeaker, to individual discussions in the classroom, the immaturity that often fuels high schoolers seemed to fade into maturity. Mrs. Stedman (Staff), like many teachers, decided to take the time out of her lesson to talk about and show a video on not only the horrifying day, itself, but also the tributes that stand today in both respect and remembrance. Noel Peralta (10), a student in Mrs. Stedman’s World History class, described the pieces of information that she, individually, will never forget: “It’s crazy to think students my age were sitting in a classroom just like me when the beginning of something insane occured: not only the event, but also the impact of the event. The impact is so insane that there was a museum made about it. That’s crazy.” Nevertheless, it was not only Mrs. Stedman who dedicated her time to a greater cause. Averi Colburn (10), who does not have Mrs. Stedman, emphasized that this was the first year that she “had truly thought about what happened and how something like that could happen any day.”

While “any day” may be a stretch, knowledge is pivotal in order to empower twenty-first century students to actually learn from past mistakes. Yes, knowledge is pivotal to actually learn, and with knowledge comes not only learning, but also fixing, agreeing, preventing, and understanding. Thus, knowledge is, indeed, power.