At 5:30 a.m. Sept. 11, Jenna Dobos, Megan Eltringham and the rest of the Freedom Hs Republican Patriots Club (RPC) were not asleep, even though it was the end of the second week of school. They were not even intermittently hitting their snooze buttons, as many high-schoolers were at that time. Instead, they were planting American flags in the ground in front of Freedom HS along Chester Road in Bethlehem Township.

They placed 2,977 flags, to be exact. The endeavor took three hours, but they placed each red-and-blue banner tenderly and with the utmost respect, because each one represented an American who had died 14 years earlier as a result of that infamous onslaught upon our American ideals and way of life.

Jenna, RPC’s vice president, was just a toddler when the airstrikes happened, obliterating the Twin Towers and the American sense of invulnerability. Although she was so young, she thinks it is important to remember the Americans who perished.

“We know it was a tragedy; people were upset by it,” said Calvin Ho, another RPC member. “But this shows human strength to overcome challenges.”

The nearly 3,000 flags stand as a mute testament to our resilience as a nation, and RPC’s gesture impacted many community members, just as the idea’s progenitors, Jenna and Megan (the RPC’s president), hoped it would. The two worked to coordinate this public display of solidarity between Freedom students and the community for the second year.

“I have received personal phone calls from people thanking us for what we have done,” Jenna said.

Megan elaborated on that point.

“Last year, we had a whole station of firefighters come up to us and thank us,” she said.

For both Jenna and Megan, the support from the community has been gratifying. Both feel they have accomplished their goal in commemorating the tragic event.

In addition to planting the flags, the club facilitated an assembly dedicated to reflecting upon the attacks.

“When I looked around the auditorium, I saw lots of people in tears,” said As Freedom senior Matias Piñeiro. “It was very moving.”

The culmination of the RPC’s efforts was the release of dozens of floating lanterns into the darkened sky above the Freedom girls’ soccer field at 8:30 that night. Local media sources were on hand to witness the proceedings, along with plenty of community members. Jenna herself was awed by the sparkling sight. She said she couldn’t express how beautiful a sight it was.

The glimmering globes, drifting upward against a black background, were certainly wonderful to observe, but moreover, they were telling. Their message screamed out over the tranquil, meditative silence – when Americans are down, they are not out. They bond together. They comfort each other. They send light into the darkness.

The banner yet waves.