2008 Woodie Awards
Students put winter break to good use in New Orleans
Meredith Lippman
Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: News
This past December, a group of determined Union students congregated at Union to discuss and learn about their upcoming adventure in New Orleans. For the past three years, Union has been sending students and two faculty/staff advisors down to Louisiana to help with the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Almost immediately after the floods, interested students addressed the issue and decided to make a pilgrimage down to Louisiana to help restore morale and rebuild communities. The first trip was so successful that students, including senior Libby Johnson, were asked to "continue the tradition" and organize another trip for the next year. Johnson happily agreed and encouraged Union to participate in the rebuilding process.
The second year of the trip was so successful that Union decided to run the trip again-but this time, it would be a little different. Before this, the trip was strictly volunteers and it was funded completely by an anonymous donator. This year, "students got academic credit for it," explained Johnson. "That six or seven week break could be a waste of time for some and this way, it enables students to receive an extra credit and do a little community service at the same time."
In order to receive academic credit, participants had a lot of extra work to do. Junior Ashlyn Pendleton mentioned that before students even went down to Louisiana, they had "four meetings before and had to read some books in addition. In December, we had to come back to school before we left to meet and discuss what we would be doing down there."
In addition to this, students were asked to write research papers about the events in Louisiana and will present their projects in a mini-symposium in the Nott on January 22.
The New Orleans mini-term has matured significantly since the first trip. As the only student who has participated in this trip all three years, Johnson noticed that, "it has changed dramatically."
One person who has helped formalize the program and incorporate it into the mini-term family is Professor of Sociology Janet Grigsby, who, along with Molly MacElroy of the Residential Life staff, has accompanied the students for the past two years.
Almost immediately after the floods, interested students addressed the issue and decided to make a pilgrimage down to Louisiana to help restore morale and rebuild communities. The first trip was so successful that students, including senior Libby Johnson, were asked to "continue the tradition" and organize another trip for the next year. Johnson happily agreed and encouraged Union to participate in the rebuilding process.
The second year of the trip was so successful that Union decided to run the trip again-but this time, it would be a little different. Before this, the trip was strictly volunteers and it was funded completely by an anonymous donator. This year, "students got academic credit for it," explained Johnson. "That six or seven week break could be a waste of time for some and this way, it enables students to receive an extra credit and do a little community service at the same time."
In order to receive academic credit, participants had a lot of extra work to do. Junior Ashlyn Pendleton mentioned that before students even went down to Louisiana, they had "four meetings before and had to read some books in addition. In December, we had to come back to school before we left to meet and discuss what we would be doing down there."
In addition to this, students were asked to write research papers about the events in Louisiana and will present their projects in a mini-symposium in the Nott on January 22.
The New Orleans mini-term has matured significantly since the first trip. As the only student who has participated in this trip all three years, Johnson noticed that, "it has changed dramatically."
One person who has helped formalize the program and incorporate it into the mini-term family is Professor of Sociology Janet Grigsby, who, along with Molly MacElroy of the Residential Life staff, has accompanied the students for the past two years.
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