TEMPLE, Texas — Angie Diaz's history classroom is kept dark, the ever-present glow of the overhead projector lights up the faces of her second period students, faces that never saw the events of September 11, 2001 unfold in real-time.
"Channel one came on and we were told to please watch the news and i was able to watch the second tower get hit and fall and things kind of went silent around here," said Diaz, who was almost nine months pregnant at the time.
Robert Case, an 11th grade teacher at Temple High School, was in high school at the time and said his mind was on the upcoming football game that week. His one-track mind was altered as the emotions of what he saw on the screen.
"We watched the first tower, it had already been hit and we thought maybe it was an accident and we saw, in our living room, the second plane hit and that's when it kind of sunk in," Case said.
It's been 20 years since September 11 and all of the students in today's history classrooms are learning about an event they weren't alive to see. A day that saw nearly 3,000 people lose their lives in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
The emotions of that day are felt, too, for students in the JROTC program at Temple High School and it's what's helped them decide that protecting all of us is what they are born to do.
"It was only one of the days that evil prevailed," said Johnny Hernandez, Jr., who plans to enlist in the United States Army. "A lot of innocent people died that day."
Chiara Stennis said 9/11 just simply never should have happened.
"Regardless of the turmoil or emotions leading up to that day, it never should have happened, lives like that shouldn't be lost," Stennis said.
For both Diaz and Case, they say teaching about the events of 9/11 through the use of video, images and documentaries really drives home what happened that day.
"Watching videos in history is one of the greatest things we can teach about history is being able to watch on film what actually took place that day," Diaz told 6 News.
Case said talking about and teaching kids how long the war has been going on is important, especially since that's all they know.
"The one thing I really try to get across to our students in class is how long this war has been going on because our kids were born after this had happened," he said, adding the war in Afghanistan ending is a current event teachers can now draw from. "The thing that's different about teaching this lesson now is that it's the 20th Anniversary and we just ended the longest war in American history."
Stennis said 9/11 is a part of the reason she's joining and said her duty when signing up is help stop the pain and suffering so many people feel.
"It's my duty to help people stop pain and suffering. I wouldn't say that I have to go in and force any kind to behavior or anything like that, it's simply my duty to spread positivity and help people by doing so," she said.
Hernandez Jr. said he said he must stand a fight for those who can't or won't because if he doesn't he isn't sure who will.
"If they can't fight for this country and I am able to protect them and make sure they live a happy life here so they can pursue their dreams and do what they want to do and I'd be happy to do that any day."
Both teachers at Temple High School also agreed that it's important for parents to have the conversation with their children at home this weekend and talk about where they were when tragedy struck our nation. They said the shock in their eyes at times as they take it all in only means the conversation should continue at home.
"You get a lot of shock, you know that's really the emotion, the kids are shocked, their sad and some of them are angry," Case said.
Diaz said some students have had direct connections and talking about it and learning brings that out in them.
"You'll see that some of our kids still get emotional and they'll tell you, 'Hey, I had an aunt in the twin towers or my dad's a first responder now.' So, it hit homes with them," she said.
Diaz and Case said it's hard to believe it's been 20 years but for them, the ultimate teaching moment will always be how we all came together as a country and the heroes of nine-eleven made us proud to be Americans on it's darkest of days.
"I've turned it more into the heroic actions, I like to talk about the heroes of the time and not the terrorists and focus on the first responders and their families," Diaz offered.
Case agreed, citing the positivity that came from the chaos and destruction.
"We try to focus more on the survivors, the first responders and the people that were lost during that time and not necessarily about the terrorists and who did it but who was affected by it instead," he said.