The Chadron State College campus is quiet this week with the school in spring or mid-term break, but a group of 38 students and two chaperones from the college are busy working in Louisiana as part of a national service project.
CSC Director of Internships and Career Services Deena Kennell has coordinated the school's “alternative spring break” service program with the National Relief Network for the past 3 years.
Kennell, who accompanied last year's trip, says this year's trip is to Chalmette, Louisiana, just east of New Orleans, where they'll help with on-going recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.
The group will be assisting with wetlands restoration, replanting areas damage or destroyed by the hurricane or its aftermath...much of the work in the Chalmette National Historical Park.
The park, site of the War of 1812's famed Battle of New Orleans, is part of the larger Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, which includes the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Chadron State and many other colleges and universities around the country have been encouraging students in recent years to give back to their communities or the country through service projects.
Kennell says CSC strongly supported this year's trip in many ways, including financially. The college administration and the Student Senate both provided funding that helped charter a bus for the long trip to the Gulf of Mexico.
Kennell says the students themselves also put in a lot of time and energy over many months to raise funds and organize the trip possible
Senior Javon Mays, a former Eagle football player and wrestler who has organized several cultural awareness events at the college, agrees that while the administration supported the trip, the students organized it.
The bus chartered through Navigator Bus Lines of Norfolk left for New Orleans Saturday and drove non-stop, completing the roughly 1,800 mile trip yesterday in about 27 hours.
The group will begin their return trip Friday morning, while a scheduled arrival time in Chadron of 1:00 Saturday afternoon
