The children of 9/11 - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

MUNCIE - This year's crop of college students were around ten years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Eyewitness News sought out some Ball State students to get their generation's perspective on the killing of Osama bin Laden.

At Ball State University, the death of Osama Bin Laden is largely met among students with relief. They were children on September 11th, 2001 and have lived a large part of their lives in the specter of a mass murder that profoundly changes the nation. Kelly Cathcart is now 19.

"It's made me more appreciative for our country and troops so I look at that a different way but I think I was too young to understand what was going on," said Cathcart.

While the world digests the news of the terrorist's fate, most students are concerned with final exams. Some stopped long enough to reflect on life in post 9/11 America. Aaron Hays is now 20.

"People my age, it's definitely affected how we view our leader in government and the way we view things they tell us," said Hays.

For may college students, 9/11 was something they experienced as children and throughout their lives, they've been largely unaffected by the events of that day. But there are some people who were directly affected.

Jill Seidel was 11 when her grandfather died on one of the planes used to attack America.

"I did have a family member pass away because of it so that was a big part in my life. But I was pretty young and didn't understand it until I grew up and studied it," said Seidel.

Whether the world is safer without bin Laden is a question still being debated, but the children of 9/11, now young adults, are clearly relieved at his death.