CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Mary Carroll High School principal Robert Arredondo spoke these words Friday morning as his students gathered for a tribute to our first responders and members of the armed forces.
"We learn from our past, we learn from the great things," said Arredondo.
There will be many 9/11 tributes like this one as we remember that dark day in our history 20 years ago. But there is something uniquely poignant about the ceremony held Friday morning near the flag pole outside Carroll High School.
It was organized by students and led by students who had not yet been born when the planes hit the towers, when the Pentagon went up in flames, and when United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But their poignant words and their touching tribute did not fall short.
They spoke of the sense of loss we all felt as a country on that dark day and the pride in our heroes as they went into the smoke and fire that others ran from.
Arredondo says it was important that his students remember those who died on that day and our heroes like first responders and members of the military who put themselves in harm's way to help the victims of the terror attacks.
Arredondo said, "Through tragedy there is always a lesson and the lesson we're imparting on our Tigers is help your fellow citizen, your fellow Tiger, your fellow patriot, your fellow American in their greatest time of need and that's what we want to cultivate here, at any campus across CCISD and here at Carroll High School."
Arredondo is proud of his students for organizing this 9/11 tribute.
How will his young students respond if they are tested like another generation was tested on September 11, 2001?
He's confident they will be ready if they are called upon a time or two in their lives because, as he said, "We learn from our past, we learn from the great things."
