On Sept. 11, 2001, Ms. Amy Bush, a Social Studies teacher at Mehlville High School, was in the third grade at Bayless Intermediate school. She remembers watching a large box television being rolled into the classroom. On the TV, a series of unsettling and unforgettable footage: two planes crashing into the World Trade Center, over and over again. 

“I just remember that visual,” Bush said. “I can see it in my mind; like I was there.”  

Last September marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11. With the help of Mehlville High Schools’s Social Studies Department, Bush was able to commemorate the tragedy through the creation of a multi-floor display depicting the different perspectives of 9/11. The memorial remained on display at Mehlville High School from Friday, September 10 to Thursday, September 16, 2021. 

As students walked through the main entrance of the building, they saw the thousands of names of the lives lost on 9/11. Then, beginning in the Social Studies Hallway, a timeline of events illustrated the after effects of the terrorist attacks. The dates spanned from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2021. Short messages of hope and unity from teachers at Mehlville accompanied the timeline as well. 

On the third floor of the building, over 35 testimonials from 9/11 were written by the staff and displayed on the walls for students to read about how 9/11 had also impacted the lives of the Mehlville community.

Next year, The Social Studies Department is planning on expanding the 9/11 memorial through the use of “hero stories” written by the Mehlville Leadership Class. This display will be placed on the first floor of the school. 

Displays will also be presented this school year for other important occasions, like Black History, Women’s History, Jewish-American Heritage, and Asian Pacific Islander Month.