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Students find New Orleans service-learning sojourn rewarding
4:21 p.m., Feb. 15, 2007--Two innovative Winter Session courses, the Literature of Disaster, and Service Learning in New Orleans, took on a special meaning for a group of UD students when they experienced the aftermath of a modern day disaster firsthand. The students in Literature of Disaster first studied the literature of historical disasters, such as the Great London Fire of 1666, and then performed hands-on service in New Orleans, helping in the city's recovery from Katrina and learning from their own experiences. An assorted band of students enrolled in the classes and other volunteers made their way from UD to New Orleans in January, including McNair Scholars (a program for minority and first generation college students to prepare them for graduate study), student English language teachers, grad students, faculty, administrators and UD friends. A diverse group with diverse talents, everyone contributed in a variety of ways to help in the effort to rebuild the city and help its citizens. The project had its start when Maria Palacas, director of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, received a grant for students to travel to New Orleans on a learning service project for part of Winter Session.
The UD groups were associated with the John McDonogh Senior High School in the Recovery School District. The high school needed volunteer help in a variety of areas, Alvarez said. There were no records or transcripts. Students were self-placed in the classroom. Another issue involved student ablilties in reading and writing, with some students unable to read or write a complete sentence. “The teachers were on their own,” she said. “There were no resources for special needs or special education students.” A group of UD student teachers went to the high school and were observers at first, learning how the teachers coped and taught. Most of the teaching was basic drilling patterns to try to prepare students for state testing, Alvarez said. “As we grew to know the teachers, we asked how we could help. What they needed most was relief--other people to help out and mentor and work with students one to one. Our students worked with the high school students and also worked on tracking down transcripts and records--whatever we were asked to do, we did it.” At the high school, other UD students interacted with the high school students in several ways, giving seminars on preparing for college, helping students with study plans for the future, putting up information bulletin boards and helping students establish a school newspaper, The Fightin' Trojan. The newspaper contained poignant stories of student flight and separation from home and family during Katrina, as well as school activities and the proactive role students were taking in asking for support from the board of education. A list in The Fightin' Trojan, comparing changes from September 2006 to January 2007, shows the school's progress. Textbooks went from “No” to “Yes!”; student government from “Who dat?” to “Sure do”; band instruments from “No way” to “Ya heard me!”; and the school newspaper from “Nonexistent” to “You bet!”
The students and volunteers were housed in Camp Hope, an elementary school about a half hour from the city, which had been flooded during Katrina, then gutted and now offers minimal facilities--no heat in 50-degree weather, primitive plumbing, showers located away from the building, and not exactly gourmet food. “But we had a roof over our heads and beds and sleeping bags,” Alvarez said. It wasn't all work, however. “Weekends were a time to experience the city--the music, the food, the stories, the culture,” Alvarez said. “We had a literary tour of the French Quarter, ate in New Orleans bistros, went to the African- American Museum of Culture, History and Art, attended a two-hour mass in an African-American Catholic church, watched a New Orleans Saints game and interacted with people.” When it was time to leave, the students left their mark on a wall of Camp Hope, with a hand-painted portrait of YoUDee and everyone's signatures--a memento of their January journey to New Orleans. Students, staff share lessons learned “Resilient, glad to be home again, proud and loyal to their city, determined and grateful.” These are the words that keep reoccurring when you ask UD students and staff about the people in New Orleans they encountered during their Winter Session project. The other message you hear is, “I want to go back!”
Shaila Parker, a senior biochemistry major and McNair Scholar who has applied to medical school, had a different experience. She worked at John McDonogh Senior High School, helping the students launch The Fightin' Trojan newspaper. It was a challenge, getting a paper off the ground in a week's time, Parker recalled, but the students were enthusiastic and interested, and they did it. She keeps in touch with the high school students and encourages them to carry on with the project. “It's exciting the see the students get on with their lives and their determination to graduate,” Parker said. Laura Armstrong, a senior art history major, took a different path. She joined UD graduate, Lenora Costa, who works at the historical Longue Vue House and Garden. The gardens suffered, as did the outbuildings, although the main house remained intact, she said. Armstrong helped record and organize artifacts, taking inventory and digital photographs and moving objects back to where they belonged. Costa is from New Orleans, and she and her family invited Armstrong to one of the krewe balls that precede Mardi Gras. “I bought a dress from a vintage shop in New Orleans, went to the king and queen's dinner dance and breakfast,” she recalled, and obviously had a ball. Armstrong has been to New Orleans four times now and has helped with community housing projects. What has impressed her is the variety of volunteers who come to New Orleans. “They are all ages, some retired, some taking vacation time, and they are from all over. I have met volunteers from as far away as Alaska, Israel and California,” she said. Brandi Gilbert, whose faculty adviser for her senior thesis is Alvarez, focused on research on students and teachers and their roles in the aftermath of Katrina. She is writing her thesis on adolescent recovery after emergency and the role of teachers. She has become interested in disaster research and hopes to continue in that field after graduation. She talked to students about their lives before Katrina, their evacuation experiences, their lives upon return and their writing--journals, poetry and their stories. “The stories are traumatic, but the theme is, 'We are coming back, we are strong' and many want to go to college,” she said. This is the third time Gilbert has been to New Orleans and she said she hopes to revisit the city this spring with Alvarez.
“The city is coming back,” he said, “but the devastation is unbelievable--if I took hundreds of photos, I still could not convey how bad it is.” One memorable moment occurred at the John McDonogh Senior High School. “They had no library at all. Then one day, trucks arrived loaded with books, which were then put in stacks, and there was an instant school library,” he recalled. “I was proud of our students--their contributions to New Orleans recovery made a difference. For me as an educator, the highlight of the trip was seeing the growth and maturity of our students during the experience,” Courtright said. “The living conditions of the group were Spartan,” Courtright said, “but I never heard a student complain, although some came to dinner wrapped in blankets.” Linda Russell, retired assistant to the chairperson of the English department and one of the volunteers to accompany the students, worked full-time. Her duties included helping Martha Carothers, art professor and director of UD's Center for Teaching Effectiveness, catalog African-American art in a storm-torn museum; chauffeuring students; washing the pots and pans after breakfast for hundreds of volunteers at Camp Hope; helping set up the library at John McDonough Senior High School and also working on a community house with Suzanne Potts, administrative coordinator in the English department. Russell said of her time in New Orleans, it was the “most rewarding experience of my life.... Our UD students are awesome.”
Article by Sue Moncure
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