While 9/11 was life-changing for older generations, Gen Z has no collective memory of what happened. USA TODAY spoke with several Gen Zers about how their experiences have shaped their understanding of what happened 20 years ago – and how that continues to play out today. The attacks were a large reason why Katie Brockahge, 24, enlisted in the Army Reserve after high school. But when she began to discover her identity as a trans woman, she also started questioning everything else she’d been taught from her conservative parents, including her views on the terror attacks. Megan Carr, 13, often accompanied her grandmother, aka her “Mimi,” to the hospital to be treated for lung cancer, which she developed after responding to ground zero. Her Mimi, whom Megan is named after, died in 2017 and her old uniform hangs in Megan's closet, wrapped in plastic. "I felt like something was took from me — like a missing piece.” Zainora Babayee, 23, grew up in Kabul before coming to the U.S. with her parents and six siblings when she was 18. She says she really only came to understand what happened on 9/11 once she moved and did research on her own. Now, she’s been frantically trying to contact friends and family in Afghanistan. "When I wake up I want to scream and let the world know what's happening. I see my peers around me enjoying their life, but I'm on my phone checking who got killed.”