Graduate School of Education: 0601katrina.html

When Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast less than one week after the fall semester began, members of the School of Education community responded in a variety of ways.

At the request of Graduate School of Education Dean David Pearson, UC Links Executive Director Charles Underwood spearheaded a collaborative project that will offer online after-school activities and resources to the children of evacuated families in New Orleans and other affected areas.

Nora Kenney, a graduate student in Language and Literacy, Society and Culture (LLLSC), organized a supply drive. Within a week of the disaster, collection barrels were placed in front of the Dean’s Office and Education-Psychology Library, and in December, 20 boxes containing school supplies, books, computers and new shirts were shipped to an elementary and middle-high school (grades 7–12 combined) in Lafitte, La., about 20 miles from New Orleans.

Kenney’s LLLSC adviser Glynda Hull traveled to Houston’s Astrodome to help evacuees as a Red Cross volunteer, then sent a series of moving dispatches back to campus recalling her experiences.

Possibly the most inspiring effort grew from GSE’s Environmental Education class. Students in the course formed a non-profit, Environmental Rebound at CAL (E.R. Cal), sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California, to provide short-term relief, environmental rehabilitation and community-building support for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The undergraduates compiled their skills; created a budget; designed graphics for business cards, shirts and banners; launched a website; and detailed their plans for the winter break. After seeking contributions from local businesses and individuals, the group proceeded to raise $6,000 for the trip by selling raffle tickets, many to tailgaters at Bay Area football games.

"It seemed a little overwhelming at first," said Cliff Rocha, one of E.R. Cal's organizers, "but we took the initiative, it came together and we were able to accomplish our goals."

Rocha and five other students from the Environmental Education class along with six volunteers spent the first 11 days of January helping New Orleans flood victims by partnering with Common Ground Collective and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. The 12 E.R. Cal volunteers worked with the Common Ground Collective inside medical clinics in the 9th Ward and Algiers, set up relief supply distribution centers and cleaned out the home of flood victims in St. Bernard Parish just outside New Orleans.

During the other half of the trip, the volunteers restored Audubon trails in the town of Grand Isle, picked up garbage in Grand Isle State Park and planted a few thousand native plants along a marsh restoration project in Fourchon to serve as a natural storm surge barrier in the area.

It didn't take long for the six Environmental Education students who went to New Orleans to understand what their professor, John Hurst, meant when he told them on the last day of class:

“It’s not so important what goes on in the class as how it’s going to impact you afterwards."

return to gsE-bulletin

return to News