On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes to carry out a massive attack against the United States. Two of the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York City, causing them to collapse, while a third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back. Nearly 3,000 people tragically lost their lives that day. The tragedy completely changed the country, leading to major wars overseas, way stricter airport security, and new laws on homeland defense.

Since 2000, world politics has been shaped by a few major turning points. The September 11 attacks led to long wars in the Middle East and major changes to national security. The 2008 financial crash hurt family budgets worldwide and left many people deeply distrustful of banks and politicians. In recent years, social media and the COVID-19 pandemic made political divisions much sharper and daily debates more intense. Today, leaders are mainly wrestling with extreme weather, rising living costs, and intense competition over new technologies like artificial intelligence.

Growing up back then meant flip phones, iPods full of songs, and low-rise jeans everywhere. For me, nothing beat Justin Bieber, his swoopy hair, and wearing purple hoodies while playing "Baby" on repeat. It was a fun time when people made videos for YouTube, hung posters on their bedroom walls, and jammed to catchy pop music all day long.

In movies and TV shows, teachers were usually shown as either selfless heroes who magically fixed their students' lives or strict, boring adults who just got in the way. Students were almost always grouped into exaggerated cliques like popular kids, jocks, or outcasts, with very little focus on actual schoolwork. Instead of being normal places to learn, schools were framed as dramatic social battlegrounds where the biggest challenges happened by the lockers or at lunch.