As today marks 13 years since Sept. 11., university students take a moment to reminisce, pay their respects and, most importantly, remember.

“All I remember is that after I got out of school, my mother told me that instead of being scared, we should be grateful that we live in a country where this doesn’t happen often.”

– Audrey Bigham, junior, psychology major

“I don’t have much of a personal story, but I always take part in a conversation about 9/11 and relate it to the terrorism acts in Israel. I’m an American Jew, and Judaism emphasizes the importance of a single life, so I believe all acts of terror have a huge impact on the world. But it’s hard to imagine what it is like being in Israel, where there are terrorism attacks daily, and no one remembers them. But this one day in America, everyone remembers. Everyone usually remembers. I was quite surprised that not one of my professors today in class brought up what had happened or held a moment of silence.”

– Leah Prince, freshman, environmental science major

“I was five years old on Sept. 11, 2001, and I remember we were out playing on the field and they told us there were too many bees outside so we had to go in. My grandma then picked me up from school. My mom was also pregnant with my little brother at the time, and she was getting ready to go to work at ground zero when my brother decided to come early, so she went into labor at the hospital. The TV was on and my mom said that she remembered looking at the screen and seeing a plane fly into one of the towers. I was still at school, and I just remember everyone saying ‘get inside! get inside!’ and that’s when my grandma came to pick me up, but I obviously didn’t know what was going on. So, my mom was worried and my dad said he knew something had to be happening. My mom kept watching the television and the second plane hit, so that’s when she knew a terrorist attack was going on. She wanted to stop the labor of my brother because she didn’t want him born on that day but the doctor came in and said she had no choice. She always says how scary it is that she was supposed to be there that day and how my brother being born early saved her life. We consider him a miracle child in our family, because had it not been for him, we don’t know what would have happened to my mom.”

– Gianna Dano, freshman, biology major

Jennifer Hopkins is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at jennhopkinss@gmail.com.