Paige Lavender was in math class when a friend ran in and said four ominous words: "We're going to war." It was Sept. 11, 2001. Two planes had just careened into the World Trade Center. Lavender was in the 7th grade.
Sunday, Lavender, now a senior at the University of West Virginia, received a phone call from her boyfriend telling her that the president was going to make an unusual speech that night. The journalism major immediately went to Twitter, where unconfirmed reports of Osama bin Laden's death were clotting the feed. When Obama formally announced the world's most wanted terrorist's death at 11:35 p.m., Lavender said she got chills.
"When Obama starting speaking … with every confirmation and every person validating the news it seemed more real and it was chilling," she told the Huffington Post. "I remember being younger and 9/11 happening. [Bin Laden's death] is just a monumental occasion. It provides a little bit of closure."
For a generation that has come of age during the War on Terror, bin Laden's death Sunday provided a poignant moment for celebration, reflection and standard college-grade mayhem.
Lavender said students at West Virginia University took to the streets, burning dumpsters and couches. At Penn State University, however, fire was reserved for homework. Daily Collegian editor Ashley Gold was there:
At St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, Student Government President Robby Glass was in the library when news of bin Laden's death broke. "You could hear the library, which is usually a quiet place, erupt," he told the Huffington Post. Glass said the story reached most students through social media sites.
A 5th grader when 9/11 happened, Glass, now 19, said he couldn't really conceptualize the event at that age. The War on Terror has been a reality for more than half of his life.
"I can't believe that it's been 10 years," he said Sunday. "The war is far from over but it's definitely a huge victory."
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