Hurricane Katrina Relief took multiple forms on campus last year. Admissions opened HSU's doors to college students displaced by the hurricane by waiving out-of-state tuition and helping to provide housing and support for these new students. Last year's Day of Caring, which recruited over 400 members of the campus community to participate in a day of service, not only included a food drive for Katrina relief, it mobilized volunteers to pack emergency food boxes sent to the Gulf Coast region. In addition, a multitude of clubs and organizations on campus staged creative fundraisers and benefit concerts for Katrina relief.
Books Building Bridges, the HSU club formed in the wake of Katrina, solicited the donation of 500 pounds of books and delivered them over last winter break to a Mississippi elementary school. While there, HSU students joined AmeriCorps members clearing debris in the town of Pass Christian. In addition, the club sent members in May 2006 to New Orleans to work with the national non-profit organization ACORN in their house-gutting program.
"All of our work is a reflection of our commitment to the people of the Gulf Coast not to let their stories fade from the front page. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a political disaster for which we are all culpable and we want to do our part to work in solidarity with the local communities of the Gulf Coast in order to aid in their efforts to receive the necessary services to rebuild and thrive," said Books Building Bridges club member Marjory Sebastian-Watkins.
HSU's selection to the President's Honor Roll also reflects the high level of student engagement in the local community, fostered by service learning courses that link scholarship and service. Additional avenues for this high level of community engagement include 14 different student-run community service programs through Youth Educational Services (Y.E.S.), as well as volunteer activities supported in the residence halls at HSU.
The President's Honor Roll is co-sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. The recognition is presented in cooperation with Campus Compact, a national coalition of over 1,000 college and university presidents, and supported by all the major national higher education associations.
For more information, please contact Mike Cipra, Community Partner Liaison, at (707) 826-4963 or mcc21@humboldt.edu