CRANBERRY TWP — Amid a sea of hands raised by curious sixth-graders at Haine Middle School, Jim Tanda, an instructor of criminology at Waynesburg University, discussed and answered questions Tuesday morning about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Tanda, who retired as a supervisory special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2013, has a unique perspective on the attacks — he was tasked with securing buildings in Washington, D.C., before President George W. Bush’s return — and said he appreciates the opportunity to speak to the students about 9/11.

“Sad as it is, it’s an important part of history, and I enjoy telling the younger generation that maybe didn’t hear it from this perspective before,” Tanda added.

The former agent told students the history of the attacks, dating to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and discussed the impacts the events had on the country. One measure of impact — the number of casualties — extended beyond the date of the attacks, Tanda said. He pointed to the illnesses and deaths of first responders and those involved in cleaning up the aftermath of the attacks and the war on terrorism as two ways the attacks affected the nation.

It didn’t take long for Tanda to run out of the flashlights and tumblers he gave to students who asked questions. Many of the questions — if the buildings attacked were chosen deliberately, whether the Capitol or White House was the intended target of Flight 93 and why the attackers committed the atrocities — echoed the questions Americans throughout the nation asked 18 years ago.

While Tanda’s goal was to provide his perspective and help educate the sixth-graders, he also gave them an important charge before he ended his presentation.

“We talked about it in history because we have to talk about it in remembrance because we should never forget,” Tanda said. “We should be the generation that overcomes this hate and the evil in people’s hearts ... to eliminate the school shootings and all the church shootings and all those horrific mass shootings, to eliminate the bombs and the planes.”