The American Veterans Traveling Tribute sent Jack Elementary School a plaque on Flight 77 that included the timeline of the plane hijacking and the names of the lives lost.

Jack Elementary School hosted its annual Patriot Day ceremony on Monday to honor the school’s namesake — Dr. Bryan C. Jack, a Tyler ISD graduate who was among those killed in Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“We are honoring Dr. Bryan C. Jack and his leadership, how he worked into the Pentagon and how we see him as a leader today,” said Jack Elementary fifth grader Anaya Salman.

The son of Tyler educators, Dr. Jack was a 1970 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School and had worked in the Pentagon for more than 20 years, helping to create the U.S. military’s budget. He was on American Airlines Flight 77 on the way to a speaking engagement in California when the plane crashed into the Pentagon, just 200 feet from his office. Many believe had he been in his office that day, he might have survived.

“It’s just an honor to be able to remember him and really how much of a leader he was for our country and just having our kids understand the importance of him to our school,” said Jack Elementary Principal Brett Shelby.

When a new elementary school opened in Tyler in 2007, it was named in his honor as Dr. Bryan C. Jack Elementary School. The legacy of Dr. Jack has strong ties throughout the campus culture. He was a Patriot and a leader, according to Tyler ISD. To honor him, Jack Elementary School’s mascot is the Patriot, and their colors are red, white and blue.

Since the school opened, it has held a yearly ceremony on 9/11, also known as Patriot Day. Students lead the event, which celebrates Jack’s life and honors all those who died that day.

“It feels nice to honor the new country that I live in now, with the kind of freedom I have and be able to use the leadership that I’m doing for the school,” Anaya said.

Monday’s ceremony was led by the students, which included the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American and Texas flags, remarks from Shelby and a Jack Elementary Choir performance of the National Anthem. The ceremony concluded with the playing of Taps.

The Douglas family, who have three children at Jack Elementary and another child who will soon be attending, presented the school with a flag listing the names of all who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks. The students saw the flag with Dr. Jack’s name on it after visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, and wanted to present it to the school on Patriot Day.

“They contacted me this summer … and said they picked something up and wanted to be a surprise,” Shelby said. “They visited the World Trade Center Memorial and picked up a flag that had Dr. Bryan C. Jack’s name on it.”

The flag was delivered to the school last Friday and was unveiled at the ceremony Monday morning.

“It’s just a really good piece to add to the legacy here on our campus,” Shelby said.

Additionally, the American Veterans Traveling Tribute sent the school a plaque on Flight 77 that included the timeline of the plane hijacking and the names of the lives lost. Community members, including first responders and military veterans, were invited to the ceremony.

“We always try to send an invite out to our first responders here in Tyler, partner with them and just have them come because they were a very important part of that day as well,” Shelby said.

This year, Dr. Bryan C. Jack Elementary School is featured in the U.S. History section of Scholastic News magazine about their annual Patriot Day community event. More than six million students in grades first through sixth read Scholastic News magazine every week, according to Tyler ISD.

“Dr. Bryan C. Jack Elementary School represents the hidden gem that Tyler and East Texas continue to be,” Superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford said in a press release. “Just like the city and region the campus is located in, the school culture proudly reflects its mascot, the Patriot, through self-accountability and responsibility, in that if every student, parent, and staff member puts in the work, great results occur.”