PANAMA CITY BEACH — Kathy Prumatico shielded her eyes from the bright sunshine as she watched her sons participate in the 9/11 Commencement Ceremony at J.R. Arnold High School on Thursday.
Her lips curled into a proud smile when she saw 16-year-old Alex carry the Navy flag for the school’s Junior ROTC’s color guard and heard 14-year-old Jakob play trumpet with the band.
It was a far cry from what she felt on the same day 13 years ago.
“I was at work that morning,” she said. “We watched the terrorist attacks on the TV in the break room. The kids were at daycare.”
Like many in attendance, Prumatico remembers exactly where she was when one strike after another took close to 3,000 American lives on 9/11.
This year, Prumatico said the usual morning chatter on the drive to school before the ceremony was quiet as they listened to clips of 9/11 emergency calls and broadcasts on the radio.
“They were afraid something might happen today after seeing the president on the news last night talking about the Islamic State,” Prumatico said.
President Obama delivered a speech at the White House on Wednesday outlining his current counterterrorism campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group, which most recently grabbed America’s attention by posting videos online of U.S. journalists being beheaded by one of the Islamic militants.
Terrorism is an age-old issue and too consistent of a theme for children growing up in America after 9/11.
“It’s astonishing to think those in our audience don’t know the world before the attack,” said Scott Springer, a resident agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Springer spoke to the large crowd at the ceremony, giving a brief rundown of events that unfolded on 9/11 and the history that led to the creation of Homeland Security’s mission.
Even with all of the school administration, law enforcement, first responders, firefighters and military in attendance, Springer realized he was outnumbered by guests who were too young to have any recollection of 9/11.
“You’re the resource we all worked so diligently to protect,” he told the high schoolers.
The mood was reverent, but light as Arnold High students listened to speakers offer tributes.
“It’s a pretty big shock that something like that could have happened here,” Alex said after the ceremony. “Nothing had happened since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.”
Alex said although his classmates were too young to remember what happened on 9/11, he feels they have a pretty good idea of what the day of remembrance is all about.
“The fact that something could happen in the future is scary,” he said. “I think our country could easily band together again if it did.”
Arnold High’s ceremony was coordinated by the school’s Junior Rotary and Interact Clubs, which were recently combined so that leaders Sharon Gilson and Ryan Ziem can do more community service projects like the annual 9/11 ceremony with the growing club.
“We’re trying to make it bigger and better every year,” said Maria Barnett, a senior and Interact Club president. “I’m very thankful everyone came out and it turned out as well as it did.”