Cedar Grove High School students honor 9/11 victims with 2,977 flags

Thursday, September 10, 2015
CEDAR GROVE (WABC) -- The nation will pause Friday to remember the thousands of people who died on September 11, 2001.

It was 14 years ago that our nation came under attack, and for a group of high schoolers at Cedar Grove, they have created a special art installation to remember the victims.

Juniors and seniors at Cedar Grove High School, who were just toddlers at the time, have transformed the front lawn into a memorial for the victims and heroes of 9/11.

"It's upsetting hearing what had happened to them," senior Jamie Smith. "And us being at such a young age we don't remember it."
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It is meaningful to them all, and their principal, now leading this generation too young to be aware of the horrific attacks on their country.

"What a way to share such a tragedy that took place 14 years than with a group of kids here at Cedar Grove High School," he said.



The exhibit is 2,977 flags, with 2,977 holes drilled to hold them all, each bearing the name of a person who died that day.

"We get to do this very nice thing for 9/11, for the sad people who lost their lives during that tragic event," one junior said.

Inside, they get a thorough history lesson about the sadness, the anger and the healing, all of it an incredible idea from a parent who takes to heart the meaning of the the phrase "never forget."

"When you see 2,977 flags on the front lawn of your high school, it starts a conversation," that parent said.

The flags will fly through September 23, the start of an annual tradition.
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