Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review – October 3, 2025

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AV College holds 9/11 Memorial seeking unity
by Dennis Anderson
special to Aerotech News
Standing before the American f lag at half-staff and a field of smaller flags planted in garden boxes to honor the 2,937 people killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Antelope Valley College President Jennifer Zellet exhorted her audience to engage their memories of 24 years earlier.
Zellet, speaking at “Patriot Day” cer- emonies, addressed a gathering of more than 100 people including college stu- dents, fire cadets, military veterans and first responders, college and elected rep- resentatives, gathered at Antelope Valley College to observe the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that changed the nation and history.
Zellet quoted Holocaust historian, the late author Elie Wiesel, who survived the Auschwitz death camp engineered by the Nazis.
Wiesel, she said, recalled that as one generation passes, the act of memory threatens to vanish, and people have to dedicate themselves to reflecting on the big and castastrophic events that bring us together, and sometimes pull us apart. She made an appeal for unity, and began to sing.
“Our family was big about singing, so please join me in singing,” and AV College President Jennifer Zellet shifted into the song “God Bless America” that composer Irving Berlin made famous during World War II.
In a moment, the entire crowd was singing the words, “God Bless America. Land that I love.”
Gathered around the f lag pole, the cadets of Jr. ROTC of Littlerock High School presented the colors with military precision, and dozens of cadets from the AV College Fire Academy stood in solemn ranks.
Firefighters and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, joined ranks with vet- erans of the armed forces, some of whom study at the college.
“I want to thank all of you (cadets) who are training for the work you have chosen to do, and I want to thank all the first responders,” Zellet said. “I feel we do
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Photograph by Dennis Anderson
AV College President Jennifer Zellet sings “God Bless America” at 9/11 Ceremony.
are many charities that are helping with that, and I hope you would contribute to that effort,” Adams said.
College staff and students who served in the military were represented, includ- ing Army veteran Ashley Hawkins, and Navy veterans Ashley Chavez and Isaiah Barnes. Hawkins and Chavez help veter- ans at the college, and Chavez said, “We are dedicated to serving veterans with all our heart.”
Addressing the more than 100 in at- tendance, Navy veteran Barnes said, “I am a student so I have a lot of plans.”
He added, “I was just a baby when 9/11 happened. It is hard to imagine the people who said goodbye with smiles as people boarded their planes that morn- ing, and all the firefighters who believed it was going to be an ordinary day.”
Barnes opened and closed his remarks with, “Tomorrow is not promised.” And he urged people to care for one another, to check in on one another.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s depu- ties were among the ranks, two Army veterans among them, Corey Reddy and Ken DiCianci. Both work on the Men- tal Evaluation Team that is specifically dedicated to helping veterans who are homeless and mentally ill.
All elected officials had representatives present, and Rep. George Whitesides made a videoconference address from Washington D.C.
“It’s my honor to serve on the Armed Services Committee,” Whitesides said, “And we have a responsibility to honor the memory of all of those from 9/11.”
On a day when much of the nation was rocked by a fresh round of political violence with the assassination of con- servative activist Charlie Kirk, President Zellet appealed for a spirit of tolerance and compassion.
“More than ever it is critical that we draw together an not have a litmus test to determine if your life is worth defend- ing,” Zellet said.
At 8:46 a.m., the time of day the World Trade Center attack occurred, all stood by the big flags at half mast, and the hundreds of small flags planted in the garden beds and a Moment of Silence was observed.
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Photograph by Dennis Anderson
The Littlerock Junior ROTC presents colors during 9/11 ceremonies for Patriot Day at Antelope Valley College.
not thank you enough. As we honor those from the event of 9/11, we also honor you.” Lancaster Councilwoman Lauren Hughes-Lesley, a Reserve Army major, presented a proclamation from the City of Lancaster honoring the college for the role it has taken in memorializing the 9/11 attacks. Lesley noted that “Patriot Day”
held on Sept. 11 is also a day of service.
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College Board Chairman Michael Adams, who served as an Air Force Cap- tain, appealed to everyone to remember the 2,937 people killed on the day of the attacks by Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist group. They were the people killed on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York, nearly 100 killed when a third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and the entire passenger list of Flight 92, which the passengers voluntarily crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa.
Adams also remarked on the 7,000 Americans killed fighting the Iraq- Afghanistan wars triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attack, all the wounded, and the 2 million Americans who served in that war. Additionally, 7,000 military contrac- tors were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among those in the audience was AV College student Anastasia Han- cock, whose father, Jerral Hancock, was catastrophically wounded in action in Baghdad on his 21st birthday. The fam- ily resides in Palmdale in a home built by Lancaster High School students of the grassroots Operation All The Way Home nonprofit, and the national Gary Sinise Foundation that supports wounded veterans.
“The government has helped them, but more help is still needed, and there
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