Houston

University of Houston hosts 9/11 memorial at steel beam that was once part of World Trade Center

Students and faculty laid flowers on the university’s World Trade Center memorial in remembrance of the tragedy.

Students and faculty lay flowers at a memorial for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Patricia Ortiz/Houston Public Media
Students and faculty lay flowers at a memorial for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Students and faculty of the University of Houston remembered the 9/11 tragedy from 22 years ago in front of a two-ton steel beam from one of the World Trade Center Towers.

Donnell Young is the Dean of Students with the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Houston. He said he remembers the loss he felt on the day it happened, but also hope from first responders.

"Covered in smoke and dust, helping other folks, individuals going to help. I was inspired by just how great as a country we've come together in tragedies, in crisis like that," he said.

Young added that there are students at the university who were not alive when it happened.

"We are in a space where there are several individuals who were not born or barely remember what took place," he said. "So it's important to remind them what took place. History is important. It's crucial. We need to understand our history so we can move forward."

Houston Battalion Army ROTC members adjourned the memorial in front of the University of Houston's Student Center South, where the steel beam is located.

The University of Houston is the first university in Texas to have a piece of Ground Zero, also known as the World Trade Center site, on display. They say the piece serves as a constant reminder to never forget the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives.

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