Bryan Thomas was a second-grader at Mars Elementary School on Sept. 11, 2001. He remembers his teacher being called aside and given a note. The principal spoke. Some of his friends left school.

It was a day he'll never forget.

Now the high school junior wants to make sure nobody else forgets.

Tomorrow, just hours before the varsity football home game between the Mars Fightin' Planets and the Pine-Richland Rams, Bryan and a group of friends and family will place 2,977 flags around the front of Mars High School to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"I think after all these years, people are forgetting," said Bryan, 16. "I want everyone to remember."

Bryan got the idea for the flags earlier this summer after attending a Young America's Foundation conference in Grove City.

According to its website, www.yaf.org, the foundation started at Vanderbilt University in 1969 to help promote conservative thinking among students. Since then, it has grown to become a national organization.

Its "9/11: Never Forget Project" encourages high school students to help their schools commemorate the attacks with a moment of silence, the placement of flags on campus and other gestures.

Bryan liked the idea of placing flags at his high school, so he wrote a letter to principal Todd Kolson.

His letter read, in part: "In many respects, it is our duty to remember those who were killed that day. If we don't, memories of that day may fade with time ..."

"... I believe the power of seeing 2,997 flags in front of Mars High School would cause a lot of people to think about the events of that day in our nation's history."

Mr. Kolson said he felt admiration for Bryan when he got the letter.

"I thought it was a wonderful idea," Mr. Kolson said. "It speaks volumes about Bryan's character."

Mr. Kolson called Bryan and told him he should get permission from the school board. The board was holding a meeting that night, so Bryan had about five hours to pull together a presentation.

The board gave him the OK, and he spent $400 of his own money to buy the 4-inch by 6-inch flags.

"They're pretty small," he said. "But if there are 3,000, people will notice."

When friends and family learned about the project, they began donating money to offset the costs of the flags. So far, Bryan said, people have given him about $300.

Bryan said he intends to do the same thing next year when he's a senior and hopes his little brother, 14-year-old Kyle, will take over for him when he graduates.

"I would like to keep the project going, even when I'm gone," Bryan said.

In the past, the high school has observed moments of silence in remembrance of 9/11 victims, Mr. Kolson said.

Bryan's project, however, is the first large, planned event at the school. Mr. Kolson added the high school lawn is a perfect setting for people to appreciate the memorial.

"What better place than on busy Route 228," he said.

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