The entire student body and staff at Westerville Central High School gathered in the Commons on Monday morning for a somber and moving ceremony commemorating the tragic events of September 11, 2001, when Al Qaeda terrorists aboard three hijacked passenger planes carried out coordinated suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing everyone on board the planes and nearly 3,000 people on the ground. A fourth plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board, after passengers and crew attempted to wrestle control from the hijackers.
Military service men and women, police officers and fire fighters were present for Central’s annual remembrance ceremony, which took place at the exact time the first World Trade Center tower was struck. A bagpipe player ushered in a color guard, which paused as Taps was performed by two students. Although the pupils at Central were either very young children or not even born when the attack occurred, Principal Todd Spinner urged them to “always remember” what happened on that fateful day.