2008 Woodie Awards
Tulane Students Work Hard to Overcome
Jill Moon/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: News
Fire ants. Mold. Those are just a couple of things confronting Tulane University students when they return to New Orleans.
But on Sunday, Crescent City favorites red beans and rice were served up for displaced students while Zydeco music played in the background. The evacuees gathered behind the Art Museum in Forest Park to share trials and triumphs. It wasn't a homecoming, it was "Tulane Overcoming 2005." Tulane University Alumni Association's St. Louis Chapter was the host.
Displaced chemistry professor Scott Grayson, who is from St. Charles, contacted the association's president, Ruth Zarren-Koch, about getting Tulane students together to share their experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Grayson is temporarily teaching at Washington University where 80 Tulane students are enrolled. He provided a way to contact students through their adopted universities, which include St. Louis University, Maryville University, the University of Missouri at St. Louis and Webster University. About 40 people came, including 10 St. Louis alumni.
"I am trying to spin it in a positive way for me," said Susan Keller, a third-year law student at Washington University. She is staying with her parents in Eureka. "I do plan on coming back here after graduation."
She said she was taking advantage of being here by looking for jobs. She also said that the law school and Washington University is fabulous.
Keller, who has lived in New Orleans for seven years, had no problems getting into Washington University's law school. Tulane's law school released the third-year students first because they have to take the bar exam in July. Once released, she contacted St. Louis University and Washington University. Both offered enrollment and said she could start classes late. She started at Washington University Sept. 6, two weeks after classes started. Publishers overnighted free law books to Keller. She already had purchased books for Tulane and attended one week of classes before Katrina hit.
"Wash U. was incredible absolutely incredible. I feel completely at home," Keller said.
She is flying to New Orleans Wednesday to drive her moldy, fire-ant infested car back to St. Louis. Keller will return to her unscathed second floor apartment in Jefferson Parish for the spring semester.
Other Tulane students said they've had good experiences in St. Louis. Undergraduate students Natalia Filippov of Houston and Patrick Brady of Houma, La., attend St. Louis University. Both agree St. Louis is a nice change of scenery and it seems like a vacation. Accounting and finance student Lauren Ledbetter of Chicago and law student Charles Inslerof New Orleans, both at Washington University, said the schools were very welcoming. Nevertheless, they're looking forward to heading south and returning to Tulane.
But on Sunday, Crescent City favorites red beans and rice were served up for displaced students while Zydeco music played in the background. The evacuees gathered behind the Art Museum in Forest Park to share trials and triumphs. It wasn't a homecoming, it was "Tulane Overcoming 2005." Tulane University Alumni Association's St. Louis Chapter was the host.
Displaced chemistry professor Scott Grayson, who is from St. Charles, contacted the association's president, Ruth Zarren-Koch, about getting Tulane students together to share their experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Grayson is temporarily teaching at Washington University where 80 Tulane students are enrolled. He provided a way to contact students through their adopted universities, which include St. Louis University, Maryville University, the University of Missouri at St. Louis and Webster University. About 40 people came, including 10 St. Louis alumni.
"I am trying to spin it in a positive way for me," said Susan Keller, a third-year law student at Washington University. She is staying with her parents in Eureka. "I do plan on coming back here after graduation."
She said she was taking advantage of being here by looking for jobs. She also said that the law school and Washington University is fabulous.
Keller, who has lived in New Orleans for seven years, had no problems getting into Washington University's law school. Tulane's law school released the third-year students first because they have to take the bar exam in July. Once released, she contacted St. Louis University and Washington University. Both offered enrollment and said she could start classes late. She started at Washington University Sept. 6, two weeks after classes started. Publishers overnighted free law books to Keller. She already had purchased books for Tulane and attended one week of classes before Katrina hit.
"Wash U. was incredible absolutely incredible. I feel completely at home," Keller said.
She is flying to New Orleans Wednesday to drive her moldy, fire-ant infested car back to St. Louis. Keller will return to her unscathed second floor apartment in Jefferson Parish for the spring semester.
Other Tulane students said they've had good experiences in St. Louis. Undergraduate students Natalia Filippov of Houston and Patrick Brady of Houma, La., attend St. Louis University. Both agree St. Louis is a nice change of scenery and it seems like a vacation. Accounting and finance student Lauren Ledbetter of Chicago and law student Charles Inslerof New Orleans, both at Washington University, said the schools were very welcoming. Nevertheless, they're looking forward to heading south and returning to Tulane.