Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, a growing number of Americans have no firsthand memory of the day that killed nearly 3,000 people and transformed the United States and the world.

For today’s students, September 11 is history — something learned through textbooks, videos and stories passed down by parents, teachers and others who lived through it.

As the country marks the 25th anniversary, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is offering a free digital program designed to help schools teach that history through the voices of people who experienced it.

The museum’s Anniversary Digital Learning Experience features a 35-minute film built around first-person accounts of the attacks and their aftermath, along with a live online chat where students can ask questions directly to museum educators.

Megan Jones, vice president of education programs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, told Radio Catskill the program is intended to connect a generation born after the attacks with the people behind the history.

“The goal is to help bridge that gap between history and memory for this new generation,” Jones said, adding that personal stories are among the most effective ways to make that connection.

Teaching 9/11 through personal stories

The film includes stories from survivors, first responders and family members of people killed in the attacks, as well as people who were themselves students on September 11, 2001.

Jones said those individual experiences can make an event of such enormous scale easier for young people to understand.

She recalled how students react differently when they move beyond hearing that nearly 3,000 people were killed and instead learn about one individual — such as a man working on the 90th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower who survived and helped coworkers evacuate before the building collapsed.

That is when students begin to recognize that the history involved “real people” and “real things,” Jones said.

The 2026 program features personal accounts from a survivor, an NYPD first responder, two brothers whose father was killed on 9/11 and two women who also lost their fathers in the attacks. Participants can watch the stories as one 35-minute film or as individual segments. The program also offers American Sign Language interpretation, captions, audio descriptions, Spanish subtitles and transcripts.

Making difficult history age appropriate

The Digital Learning Experience is primarily designed for students in grades three through 12, although Jones said it can also be used by college students and the general public.

The museum provides viewing guides and activities tailored to different grade levels, allowing teachers to determine what material is appropriate for their classrooms.

Jones acknowledged the challenge of introducing younger students to an event that involved terrorism, mass death and trauma.

Rather than focusing exclusively on the violence of the attacks, she said educators can also explore remembrance, resilience and shared humanity.

“The museum is about telling the story of 9/11, but also the story of 9/12 and everything that came after,” Jones said.

That includes stories of service, compassion and empathy demonstrated in the days and months following the attacks.

Building a factual foundation

Educators today are also navigating another challenge: students can easily encounter misinformation and conspiracy theories about September 11 online.

Jones said that makes reliable primary sources especially important.

The museum encourages teachers to begin with artifacts, first-person testimony and other documented evidence of what occurred.

“If we don’t answer” students’ questions, Jones said, they may look elsewhere and encounter inaccurate information.

She said establishing that factual foundation is essential before asking students to think critically about the attacks and their continuing consequences.

More than two decades after 9/11, the traditional call to “never forget” also carries a different meaning for children who were not alive when the attacks happened.

“They can’t do that if they don’t know what happened on that day,” Jones said.

Passing the history to another generation

For Jones, the 25th anniversary is an opportunity not only to preserve the facts of September 11, but also to preserve the individual stories behind them.

She described 9/11 as a story of “shared humanity” involving ordinary people going to work and living their everyday lives.

Her hope is that students will remember both those who were killed and those who survived, while carrying lessons about resilience, compassion and service into their own lives.

“This history is now theirs,” Jones said. “They’re inheriting this world that was forever changed by 9/11.”

How to participate

The 9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience is free and will be available on demand beginning Friday, September 11, 2026.

The museum’s live chat will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time on September 11, allowing students to submit questions to members of the museum’s education staff.

Teachers, schools and families can learn more about the program, access classroom resources and participate through the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s Anniversary Digital Learning Experience page:

9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience

Jones said the museum hopes the program can serve as a starting point for deeper discussion, reflection and critical thinking about an event whose impact continues to shape the country 25 years later.

Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo spoke with Megan Jones, vice president of education programs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.