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Imagine everyone silent. A crowd — a mixture of remembrance and respect. The flag is being raised and everyone has their right hand placed over their heart. Once the flag is at full staff, the silence is broken by the beginning of the national anthem.

This was the scene at Friday’s Patriot Day ceremony. September 11 means many things to many different people, but the ideology of our nation standing together is one that stays on everyone’s mind.

Since that fateful day in history, 14 years ago, a moment of silence has been allowed to remember those who were lost.

This year, Agua Fria’s JROTC put together a ceremony to honor the significance behind the date.

After Advisory, the entire school reported to the courtyard and was greeted with the sight of our school’s JROTC in their Service Uniforms. Members of the Color Guard raised the flag to full staff. Special guest Sgt. Samantha Renner from Luke Air Force Base sang our national anthem at the beginning of the ceremony.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL07C72hRUw&w=560&h=315]

The anthem was followed up with speeches from Chief Siau and Mr. Luedemann. This ceremony meant a lot to Chief, who was less than a mile away from the Pentagon when the crashes happened.

“We wanted to get the school involved,” said Cadet Jacob Park, a junior at Agua Fria who helped organize the ceremony. So what better way than incorporating the student body’s hand prints on a U.S. flag? The Wednesday before the ceremony, every student on campus traced their hand on white paper. All of those hands were later used to make up the stars and stripes of our nation’s flag.

This was the first year that JROTC had this sort of ceremony. It began with an idea, and thanks to JROTC’s teamwork, became a reality.

“The date meant a lot to everyone, especially those with family members in service,” Park said.

September 11 is very important to our school as well as our community and it showed at Friday’s ceremony. JROTC hopes to continue this event in the future.