It seemed as if the high school class of 2020 could not have anything else taken away from them. Though everyone in the path of Hurricane Ida was affected, college students are arguably among the most affected. Specifically, sophomores at Tulane University as they have not experienced a normal academic year since their junior year of high school.
Being robbed of a traditional senior year quickly turned into a typical freshman year of college also, two big milestones in the life of a young adult. Just as they thought that this year might be their year of normalcy, they are unexpectedly hit with a city-wide power outage, severe flooding and a lot of irreparable damage. Hitting the school’s area as a category four hurricane, students are struggling to come to terms with yet another school year unexpectedly turned upside down.
If you’re on TikTok, you are probably well aware that Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, truly experienced the absolute brunt of Hurricane Ida. Both on-campus and off-campus undergraduate and graduate students were evacuated from their homes to seek safety as quickly as possible. Though the students seem to be making light of the situation on social media, there is no doubt that this is very much not the vision they had for the start of their year. Tulane’s students and staff are patiently waiting for the ‘all clear’ to return to campus and salvage what is left of their experience this year.
Fortunately, there is a bright side to the misfortune the hurricane has brought in. In the last two years, remote learning has become the norm, so our educators can teach under circumstances such as natural disasters. Tulane has announced that its classes will resume online beginning on Sep. 13. In the meantime, students are expected to remain safe and close to home.
At the time of evacuation, students were escorted out with limited belongings and bused over to Houston, Texas, where they were welcomed to safety in hotel rooms until there were flights available to take them home. Tulane’s administrative team is aware that this disaster is also a serious financial burden, so they are doing what they can and providing their students’ wallets with support as well. Emergency funds are accessible to families that are in need.
For those whose hometown shares the same city lines as Tulane, this hurricane took away much more than their time at college. Families are experiencing a very rough time trying to make it safely back to their homes and work toward repairing their lives.
Thankfully, recovery is already on its way. The city has teams on-site at the university and in the New Orleans community working overtime to restore the damage Ida left behind.
Under no circumstances, college student or not, is being without water or power an ideal situation to be in. If you are looking to help the people of New Orleans, you can donate here or google other ways to help.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!