Students at Saugus High School join in the nation’s 10^th anniversary tributes to the victims and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with a multi-media memorial ceremony in the school’s gymnasium on Friday starting at 9 a.m.

“The event is designed to remember the devastation of 10 years ago, but perhaps of equal significance is the ability to reflect on the commitment our young people make when they choose to step forward to protect our nation while wearing the uniforms of the armed forces, law enforcement and fire agencies, and all other categories of first responders,” said Bill Bolde, the school’s principal.

The program includes a moving video produced by the school’s video students, patriotic songs performed by the band and choir, and tributes to families of individuals who died in the attacks and in the wars against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The ceremony will include salutes to military, police and fire personnel. Personal testimonies will be shared, and students will plant 2,977 U.S. flags (one for each life lost that day 10 years ago in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania) in the central quad amphitheater.

“We are inviting community leaders, members of the armed forces and parents to join us in this memorial,” he said. “The world has changed greatly because of what took place 10 years ago. It’s up to all Americans to carry the torch of freedom and resist all forms of oppression and any type of attack on the principles that have made our nation great. That starts with remembering the past.”

The ceremony will also honor the thousands more Americans who have lost their lives in the war efforts to fight al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels in countries 6,000 miles away from home. Some of those individuals were Santa Clarita Valley residents. One, Robbie Slocum, was a Saugus High School graduate (Class of 2000) killed in Iraq. Another, Rudy Acosta (Santa Clarita Christian School, class of 2009) was killed last year in Afghanistan.

“The events of that day and those that have unfolded over the past decade have resonated in the fabric of who we are as a nation and as free people,” Bolde said. “Saugus High School plans to make sure the Centurion students remember the event.”

To RSVP or get more information, contact Bolde at (661) 297-3900 or email him at wbolde@hartdistrict.org.