BETHALTO - This year, Parkside Primary School students learned about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks from a member of the Navy who responded to the attacks — their principal, Aaron Kilpatrick.
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Kilpatrick explained that his aircraft carrier was rerouted to the Arabian Sea and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom from October to December 2001. Now as an educator, he makes it a point to talk to students about what happened on 9/11 and how we can remember those who were lost.
“It was obviously a significant moment in American history and also in my personal life. I didn’t experience Sept. 11 the way most people around here did. I was actually out on deployment and part of a response,” Kilpatrick said. “I bring it back to making sure that we remember, why we remember, the importance of remembering and coming together when bad things happen, and also showing gratitude for our first responders.”
Parkside Primary School is made up of second and third graders. As their principal, Kilpatrick knows how to balance the heavy subject matter with lighter lessons on kindness and respect.
On Sept. 11, 2024, he gave a short presentation about what happened on 9/11 and his own experience as a member of the Navy. He focused on the importance of helping each other and coming together as a community to support first responders.
“I don’t want to go into a ton of detail about what happened that day with small children. They’re much too young for that, and they weren’t alive, anyway,” he explained. “So what I do is just start by sharing that something bad happened on that day and a lot of brave people had to help, and it brought people closer together. We just talk about that. We talk about what we can do to remember and how we can remember and how we can honor.”
Parkside second grade classes also made thank-you cards for Bethalto’s fire and police departments, and they walked to Bethalto Village Hall to deliver these cards on Sept. 11. Students and faculty members across Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 wore red, white and blue to honor Patriot Day.
Kilpatrick emphasized that this is one way to thank first responders and show appreciation for their work. He spoke about his life in the Navy and how his experience was formed by 9/11.
Above all else, Kilpatrick hopes his presentation helped the students understand why 9/11 is commemorated. While he didn’t get into the details of what happened on that day, he hopes they will remember the larger lessons about taking care of one another and being kind.
“They’ll study it in history class when they get to high school,” he said. “But for now, I just want them to know that sometimes bad things happen, but when they do, we have to come together to help each other and take care of each other and look out for each other. We talk every day here about the importance of treating everyone with kindness and respect. We always tell them it’s the most important thing in the world.”
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