DOVER, Fla. — How do you help someone understand a day that has forever changed the way we live if they weren’t yet born?
One Hillsborough County teacher is using what’s become somewhat of a time capsule to help her students grasp what happened on 9/11.
Strawberry Crest High School teacher Lauren Leto, has a letter to herself from a reflection assignment she wrote one year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, twenty years after the tragedy she’s sharing the same letter with students who weren’t yet born on the day that changed everything.
“Life is, and can be, changed in a moment,” she read. “Be grateful that you’re an American. Life is precious. Be grateful every day that you have.”
Words from a middle schooler in 2002.
Leto has only shared the letter once before with students, on the 10-year mark since the tragedy - her first year as a teacher. Now, she’s once again reopening the envelope to help students understand the gravity of that day.
“It makes it easier to put yourself into her shoes,” one student said. “And really think about what it would be like if it happened to us now.”
Leto says, she wants her students to understand the distinct difference between life before 9/11 and after.
“Heroes come from that day, and to me, a hero is anyone who goes out of their way to help another person,” she read from the letter. “Even though they might be putting their lives in danger.”