Islamic terrorists were responsible for taking the lives of those at the World Trade Center, also known as the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and United Flight 93 on September 9, 2001.
Since 2003, Young America's Foundation (YAF) has coordinated the 9/11 Never Forget Project on college campuses nationwide.
Rob Tandy, media coordinator of YAF, says the initiative was created to fill a growing gap in America's classrooms.
“We felt that there was a void in our education system and, just frankly, around the country of telling the story of what actually happened on that day, that we were attacked by Islamic radicals,” Tandy says. “What we do is we give our students the educational materials to be able to explain what happened as well as honor all of those murdered.”
Part of that effort includes displaying 2,977 American flags at participating locations — one flag for every victim killed in the attacks.
Tandy says teaching this history is more critical today than ever.
“And it's extremely important now, especially on college campuses. When we look, a lot of our students in college now were not even alive. So, it's important to continue to tell that story and to continue to educate those on our campuses,” Tandy says.
Despite occasional pushback from campus administrators or activists, YAF has placed over 14 million flags across the country since the project began. Posters and fliers and other educational materials are also used.
Students and volunteers can still sign up to participate for this year's memorial by visiting yaf.org. They instruct students to raise funding and establish an American flag memorial on their campus and then schedule a moment of silence around campus on September 11 at 9:11 a.m.
National Geographic has an episode, titled “Total Collapse,” of that fateful day that took place 25 years ago.
