In honor of remembering 9/11, Young Americans for Freedom worked to set up thousands of flags just outside the school.

  Sponsor of the club and science teacher, Michael Wood, shares some information about the flags that were put up and what planning went into it. “The flags represent the people who died in 9/11,” he said. There were a total of 2,997 flags.

  Wood said, “I think this is the third year we’ve done it.” The club got the idea, and from there, started implementing the idea at the school. “I think the idea was by a national organization called Americans for Freedom, and it was an idea they had, and so we had to purchase the flags,” Wood said. From then on, the club has been placing flags on 9/11 in front of the school close to the teacher lot.

  Setting up all those flags can take a lot of time and effort. In the past three years, setting up the flags took Young Americans for Freedom hours upon hours, according to Wood. “But this year, our leadership got really organized and they had multiple volunteers, and I think they did it in like an hour or two,” he said.

  Ava Taylor, junior and president of Young Americans for Freedom, talks more about where the idea to set up the flags came from. “The flag set up is called the Never Forget Project, and it’s a nationally recognized project by the Young Americans Foundation. Each year, schools all around the U.S. set up 2,997 flags to represent each life that was lost in the 2001 terrorist attack,” she said.

  The process for setting up the flags was significantly quicker this year than last year. Taylor said, “Depending on how many people help out, it varies how long it takes. This year, we had about 12 people contribute, so we were done in an hour or so.”

  Young Americans for Freedom plans on continuing placing the flags in honor of the people who died in 9/11, and they have enjoyed having the opportunity to set them up these past few years. 

Hannah McKinney, Staff Reporter