Tulsa Tech 9/11 Tribute Wall Honors Victims, Showcases Students' Skills

Americans look back on September 11th, 2001, with heavy hearts and here in our backyard, students at Tulsa Tech were inspired to design a tribute wall to honor the lives lost.

Tulsa Tech’s masonry instructor Chauncey Kila says the project allows the students to showcase their skills but also to learn more about what happened that tragic day.

“One: it gets them out in the shop working right off the bat in the beginning of the school year, and then also it’s kind of a history lesson for them,” Kila said.

Kila says the project is an annual assignment

“We’ve been doing this project for many years, since 2003 actually,” he said.

But this year revealed a new challenge, as some of the students weren’t alive during the attack.

“How do I make that connection to get them to feel like we did on that day?” said Kila.

The group watched videos and listened to actual emergency calls from 9/11. And that’s when Kila says…it clicked.

“When I look at the students’ faces when they’re watching these videos, I can see that it’s kind of sinking in just a little bit,” he said.

After those lessons, the students were off and running

“We just kind of got a feel for it, put our collective ideas together,” said student Walter Griffith.

Two weeks later, the memorial is complete and combines artwork, woodwork, carpentry and plumbing.

And though some might not have a memory of the attack, through this project, they can still honor the victims.

“It’s never forgotten, those people will always live on in our hearts and our memory and the things that transpired that day will always bring the patriotism out in us,” Griffith said.

The memorial will be available for public viewing until the end of November.

Those interested just have to contact the Tulsa Tech Lemley campus to schedule a time to come see it.