Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. On this day, nearly 3,000 people were killed and 6,000 others were injured in one of the worst attacks of the nation’s history. Numerous organizations and programs were created to commemorate the events of 9/11 and pay homage to the lives lost during that tragic day.

 A history and psychology teacher, Frederick Nickens, honors this day by educating students of the emotions he felt while serving 23 years in the US Army.

“I tell them the story about my family,” Nickens said. “I have an aunt that was supposed to go teach a class in one of the towers. She had a dental appointment so she didn’t go. I had an uncle who was a security guard. He switched shifts with a guy, and the guy died.” 

Prosper hosts 9/11 event

The Town of Prosper invited the community today to commemorate the tragic event of Sept. 11, 2001. A special ceremony was held earlier today at 9 a.m. in the Prosper Central Fire Station, based at 911 Safety Way. 

This event included an announcement from the Town of Prosper Fire and Police Chiefs to recognize the sacrifices made by first responders on 9/11 and to honor the memory of those that were lost.

Among the elected officials that attended the service are Prosper Mayor David Bristol, Congressman Michael Burgess and Congressman Keith Self. 

The program included a performance of the National Anthem; “America the Beautiful” by the Rock Hill High School quartet, an invocation, a 9/11 Memorial video, a tolling of the bells, a performance of  “Taps,” a remembrance video and a rendition of “Amazing Grace” by bagpipers. 

Air medical services Careflight and PHI collaborated with Children’s Health to organize a helicopter overhead flyover during the event as a subsidiary homage that brought an extraordinary and breathtaking touch to the event.

Alongside the 9/11 event, the annual Carter BloodCare Blood Drive is scheduled to be held at the Central Fire Station throughout the remainder of the day. From 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m., the Carter BloodCare bus will be positioned at the site. 

A mobile memorial displayed a 14-foot, 7,500 pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center as well. The Prosper fire department received the beam in 2015 and has been taking it on the road across every anniversary since, serving as the only mobile 9/11 memorial in the state of Texas. Strapped to a trailer, the beam also makes its way to schools year-round in order to inform young kids of the tragedy that took place that day. This Saturday firefighters participating in the Dallas Stair Climb touched the beam before starting their climb of the equivalent of 110 flights of stairs.

Memorial Stair Climb

An “incredibly symbolic and intensely physical event” took place in Dallas this past Saturday, Sept 9.  Members of the Prosper and Frisco Fire Department attended the stair climb at 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. to recall the lives that were lost of first responders on 9/11. 

A detailed timeline of events can be found on the Dallas Memorial Stair Climb website. 

“It’s just a memory of those firefighters, it’s knowing the sacrifice they made,” Frisco Firefighter Mark Parker said. “It gives me the push that I need to come to work every day and put my life on the line, and hopefully I don’t ever have to give the ultimate sacrifice, but just glad that they were willing to do it that day”

This service was neither a race nor focused on raising money, but a remembrance of the sacrifices who perished at the World Trade Center. The lives that were commemorated by the ceremony can be found on the website as well. In addition to photos taken from 2022, day-of information, and apparel from the gift shop. 

“It symbolizes the dedication that those guys were willing to do that day; put their life on the line for a stranger, you know, and that’s what we sign up for when we take the oath of a firefighter,” Parker said. “I think it symbolizes what we do when we leave our families in the morning to come to work.”