Feature: MSU's New Orleans Summer Project Really Transformed Lives

            In a life-transforming mission in June, MSU faculty, staff and students impacted many in post-Katrina New Orleans—as well as themselves.

            “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

            This quote by anthropologist Margaret Mead emerged as the motto for a group of 32 students who spent June as volunteers, along with 30 faculty or staff who volunteered one or two weeks, to help public schools in three New Orleans parishes.

            The New Orleans Summer Project of 2006 group left East Lansing on May 29 in eight vans, one of them strictly for cargo purposes, and arrived two days later at St. John Burcham, a former orphanage where they would stay for the next month.  Because the building stands on a knoll, only its basement and first floor were flooded after Hurricane Katrina.  The top two floor were relatively habitable.

            “It was a bit smelly, but not bad,” says Joyce Grant, MSU associate professor of teacher education, who spearheaded the project along with June Youatt, associate provost for undergraduate education—with encouragement from MSU Provost Kim Wilcox.

            “It was a wonderful experience for all of us, truly wonderful, and for all the people in New Orleans,” sums up Grant.

            Dozens upon dozens of emails from both public school students and teachers in New Orleans, as well as MSU participants, attest to the worthiness of the project.

            Here is one typical response, from Adam Michael Turney, a student in Grant’s teacher education class (TE 803, “Professional Roles & Practices”):

            “What we did in New Orleans in one month changed my life more than an entire year of student teaching . . . We eased the burden of countless teachers . . . Then there were the students.  I would have to say each responded differently, but the ones Nathan and I worked with were painfully grateful!  On the last day each student brought in a camera and were snapping pictures of us, giving us poetry, making us Gumbo, my eyes have opened bigger than I imagined possible.  At the end of the day . . . they didn’t even allow the chance to avoid a hug.”

            The New Orleans Summer Project really began as a mere sentiment shortly after Katrina hit and the levees broke down.  Grant was very “upset” by what she saw on TV.  Shortly thereafter, she was contacted by some nuns in New Orleans from the Sisters of the Holy Family with whom she had worked on a previous trip to Nigeria.  That resulted in an actual on-site visit.  In particular, Grant toured three parishes—St. Tammany, St. Bernard, and Jefferson—that were devastated by the floods.

            “In St. Bernard Parish, every house, every business—everything—was destroyed,” Grant recalls.  “Everyone was homeless.  It was unbelievable.  I saw boats in the middle of streets, miles upon miles of debris.”

            Intent on doing something about it, Grant enlisted the help of key MSU administrator June Youatt, associate provost for undergraduate education.  They decided that one very appropriate way for MSU to help was in public education, an area of MSU strength and also an area of great need in New Orleans, with most school buildings rendered inoperable.  They set out to recruit volunteers and find ways to enable student participation.  Grant put together a moving powerpoint presentation featuring photos she had taken of the area, which she showed to church and other community groups with evangelical zeal.  Word of mouth spread and the effort began to gain momentum.

            “Tons of people were interested in going,” she says.  “And tons were interested in helping, and I especially want to single out the MSU alumni from the New Orleans area. 

            “The alumni support was fabulous.  They gave money.  They gave resource support.  They invited the students to their homes.  They were so proud that their alma mater was doing something.  You should see the stacks of letters I received from them.”

            The interest mushroomed, as did contributions.  At one point, recalls Grant, she opened a letter containing a check for $100 and remained rather calm.  “June laughed because she reminded me how earlier, I’d jump after receiving a contribution of just $25.”

            The plan was for students to pay $800 and for MSU to try to raise as much money as possible to help defray their costs.

            “The College of Education pledged to raise money to pay for its students,” says Grant.  “Various other departments contributed money.”

            Grant singles out many “heroes,” among them Mike Rice, director of MSU Food Stores.

            “Mike was a hero,” explains Grant.  “He made T-shirts for us (with the Mead quote).  He brought in the support of the Sparty Cafeterias, where customers were encouraged to give $1 donations.  They had a competition between the coffee shops and raised $3,500.”

            The project had a brochure printed at MSU Printing Services.  “I retrieved the box of brochures and took them to my office,” recalls Grant.  “Later I found that on top of the brochures was a check for $100.”

            Ed Smith, a fellow professor of education, organized a jazz concert fundraiser at Lansing’s Cadillac Club.  “The event got quite a bit of publicity from local radio and television,” says Grant.

            Even Grant’s students pitched in.  One, who was teaching an elementary class in Utica, enlisted her students’ help and together they raised more than $300 for the cause.  A school in Utica actually “adopted” a school in New Orleans.  Student efforts contributed “many boxes of school supplies,” notes Grant.

            Before leaving on the mission, Grant and Youatt worked with New Orleans school principals and the superintendent of schools to develop a specific set of teaching and learning needs.  They then selected MSU volunteers, including students, and matched their areas of expertise with those specific needs.  A unique student committee established the norms for how everyone would live and work together in an unfamiliar setting—including everything from smoking policy to safety procedures when traveling. 

            The first night enroute to New Orleans the group slept on the floor of a gymnasium in Nashville, TN. 

            Once in New Orleans, the MSU team met daily to go over their list of chores, along with general caveats, such as, Grant says, “When we leave we want this building to be a better place than we found it.”  A video camera was set up so that participants could, whenever they had something to say, speak to the camera and retell their impressions and recount vignettes they may have encountered.  In the evening, there was a debriefing session on the day’s work and lesson-planning for the next day.  Speakers were sometimes invited to speak to the group about the Gulf area.

            “One of our evening conversations was with Phoebe Ferguson, the grand-daughter of Judge Ferguson who presided in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case,” recalls Grant.  (The 1892 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision, upheld by the Supreme Court four years later, basically validated the “separate but equal” treatment of blacks that prevailed until the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.)  “It was a very insightful presentation.  Phoebe is now friends with Keith Plessy, the grandson of the original litigant in the case.”

            The MSU students with the team were able to teach and help out in many additional ways.  Many of them taught at “The MAX,” an acronymic nickname given to three middle schools—St. Mary’s, St. Andrews, and Xavier—that had to share one intact building.

            Grant raves about the performance of the MSU students.  “Their days began at 6 a.m. when they departed on vans in four directions to teach,” she notes.  “After teaching, they engaged in some constructive activities, including the restoration of two school gardens.  One was a butterfly garden for kindergarten children.  They also helped local teachers restore their homes, and helped restore St. Mary’s for the fall.

            “They did everything imaginable.  And you know what?  The magic of it was that no one complained.  No one said anything about the weather—and it was hot as hell.  One hundred degrees and humid.”

            While in her office in the College of Education building, Grant shows a visitor the dozens of grateful emails that she has received from New Orleans.

            “They were very grateful, because most of them have a sense that people had forgotten about them,” explains Grant.  “But they are still devastated.  The photos that I took in January, little has changed.  The devastation is more stunning than you can imagine. 

            “I saw a woman at the post office die of an asthma attack.  It took the emergency people 40 minutes to get there.  This woman dies and everyone acted like it was normal.”

            As one onlooker mentioned to Grant, “This is how New Orleans has changed.”

            While the MSU group made a laudable contribution, much more work remains.  But the New Orleans Project of 2006 proved a good beginning, one that saw much learning, experience, good will, and the transformation of lives.