2008 Woodie Awards
Bridges to the Bayou honored with national award
Mekia Williams
Issue date: 10/31/06 Section: News
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According to a Saint Mary's press release, the efforts started when 38 students traveled to New Orleans last January Term. As a team, they completed an estimated 5,000 hours clearing debris from homes still standing after Hurricane Katrina, bringing parks and gardens back to life, and giving schools the preparation to reopen. The College even enrolled 10 students that were displaced after the hurricane, allowing them to continue on their college journey in a safer learning environment.
Originally the Jan Term trip to New Orleans was an exciting way to travel to this popular city in Louisiana and be able to have a first-hand experience of great food and art. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Associate Dean of Liberal Arts Shawny Anderson cancelled the class and came up with Bridges to the Bayou, a new Jan Term course that was centered on helping the hurricane victims. She mentioned some of the hardest aspects of this new heroic class.
"We were in a disaster zone, which was very hard to take when facing all this devastation and it was hard to get my head around that," said Anderson. "It makes me think of my life and my family and the material goods that I have which really don't matter in the end." There were even other more simple consequences, she explained, such as having to use portable toilets for a month.
Despite these challenges, Anderson found there was much good to take from this Jan Term spent in devastation.
"The way my students united and formed an unbelievable utopia in such a vacant lot on Alder's Point was never predicted," said Anderson. "I did not think they would have been able to handle such a situation so perfectly."
Anderson also insisted the importance of the award had a huge connection to other smaller contributions that became building blocks to one great success. She claimed that if it was not for the Walk-a-Thon last October, the load of goods the truck delivered to Katrina victims, and the money raised through the campaign for Bridges to the Bayou, the award Saint Mary's received would have not been possible.
National recognition for such a tremendous cause is not a small scale achievement. The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is in cooperation with Campus Compact-a national coalition of close to 1,000 college presidents. The co-sponsors consist of the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Human Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.
It was also noticed in a report released by the Corporation for National and Community Services that student involvement in social justice activity has risen 20 percent. It is explained that this community service phenomena is due to an increase in service-based learning in courses, as well as an increase in offices on campus that connect students to volunteer opportunities. Both of these factors are clearly illustrated on the Saint Mary's campus.
"We promote a culture of service at Saint Mary's College and are proud of our students for the many hours they devoted to helping the people of New Orleans," said President Brother Ronald Gallagher.
In addition, it is also the presence of catastrophes like September 11 and Hurricane Katrina that lead students to volunteer more frequently than usual.
The students will have the opportunity to revisit New Orleans this Jan Term to help once again.