DAY 1 - Travel to New Orleans and Orientation 5-8-08
We left the Greenville-Spartanburg airport early this morning, and flew into Atlanta. After a short layover, we were off to New Orleans. After touching down there, Ms. Brigmon surprised us all with a stretch limousine to take us to the hotel. We were greeted by members of the Middle College National Consortium, and introduced to our ambassador, Crayola. She gave us an extended walking tour of the city, showcasing the French Quarter, Canal Street, the French Market, and further uptown to a middle college campus. After returning back to the hotel, the conference was kicked off officially by the Taste of New Orleans welcome meeting. After getting to know the event organizers and the different groups present, we were treated to performances by "dragon dancers" and a brass band.
DAY 2 - Tour of Katrina Devastation / Project BONE / Children's Museum 5-9-08
After breakfast, we broke into several groups and boarded our assigned busses. We were mixed with students and staff from other schools so we could make new friends. Our student ambassadors narrated an incredibly moving tour of the city, showing in detail the extent of Katrina's impact. We were shocked and moved to see how the city had been affected, and how slow recovery had been in some areas. We visited sites in the Lower Ninth Ward, the area that received possibly the worst damage in the entire city. There we saw entire neighborhoods wiped that had been wiped clean, and the monument to the efforts to rebuild the city.
Afterwards, we were taken to our Project BONE sites - the initiative to beautify New Orleans through landscaping. Our group met the owner of a small home that had been badly damaged by the hurricane, and was still unfit for habitation. She had been sharing her FEMA issued trailer with her sister ever since returning to New Orleans two years ago. Over the course of several hours, we prepared and planted the front yard of the house with local plants to help beautify the property. After a day of hard work, we felt very proud to see her smile looking at her new yard from the steps of her porch.
When we returned to the hotel, we were informed the MCNC had arranged a special treat for us - a Cinco de Mayo celebration at a nearby children's museum that had just opened an exhibit on Mexican toys. We still managed to find the energy after working to explore the museum and try out the many displays. The variety and fun of the interactive exhibits reminded us of the diversity in the city itself. After a long day, the BMC group relaxed with dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.
DAY 3 - Parade Preparation / Panel of City Experts / Parade and Riverboat Cruise 5-10-08
Friday morning we once again had breakfast and split into our groups. The groups working the large landscaping project returned to finish up, while the others went to Pierre A. Capdau Early College High School. There, we discussed what we had seen in the communities of New Orleans, and how our efforts to help had affected the city, and ourselves. We each wrote a poem expressing our thoughts and feelings, relating to the concepts that after the "Flood of Sorrow" brought on by Katrina, we had seen a "Flood of Hope". We each wrote our hopes for the city on a small piece of paper, then folded those pieces into origami cranes. Afterwards, we divided into groups based on the focuses of our group proposals (that we will present on Saturday). Each group created a "Lighthouse" decorated in the thoughts and feeling we had about Katrina, and the efforts of the city to rebuild. These lighthouses and the flour de lis that we each made would serve as decorations for our parade later in the day. We then returned to the hotel to prepare for the Panel of Experts review.
At the hotel, we freshened up and reassembled to meet with experts from each field of our proposals - Housing, City Management, Education, Healthcare, and the Environment. The students were asked to come up with questions for the panel based on what they had seen and felt, and to gain information for our proposals. Students were selected to ask the panel their questions and engage in an open forum with the panel. Topics ranged from concerns about the homeless we had seen in different areas of the city, plans to rebuild devastated communities, financial statistics on relief efforts, to even the experts personal efforts to help their neighbors. The panel commented several times about the high quality of the questions and how pleased they were in the student's insight. The panel furthermore pledged to give full consideration for adoption to the student's proposals for change.
After the panel, we immediately headed downstairs and gathered in the lobby, as two full brass bands, a grand marshal, several costumed performers and a full police escort assembled outside. With the Lighthouses we had made earlier leading the way, our parade made it's way through the streets of New Orleans. Crowds on the streets were delighted as the students passed by, throwing beads to the onlookers. We worked our way to Canal Street, and onto the Riverboat Natchez - a stern wheel paddleboat steamer. The students had a buffet dinner onboard, then were treated to dancing as the boat made it's way up and down the Mississippi River. The sun set and the lights of New Orleans made the perfect backdrop as the students celebrated all their hard work and effort.
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