After the damage that Hurricane Harvey caused in Texas last year—followed shortly by the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean—Milton’s Community Engagement Board wanted to use its spring break service trip for hurricane relief.
But with the recently hit areas still actively responding to hurricane damage, the focus shifted to New Orleans, another area still recovering from a natural disaster, says Andrea Geyling-Moore, history department faculty member and director of Community Engagement Programs and Partnerships (CEPP).
“The work we’re doing is still connected with hurricane relief, but it was too early to visit some of the areas that were recently hit,” says Andrea. “The students will have an opportunity to learn the social and environmental realities that made Hurricane Katrina so devastating.”
CEPP has been to Mississippi to see Hurricane Katrina’s devastation twice before, in 2006 and 2007. The group traveled through New Orleans but didn’t do any work there. More than a decade after Hurricane Katrina made landfall and killed 1,800 people, Louisiana is still rebuilding roads, homes and repairing environmental damage caused by the storm.
Twelve Milton students and two adults will be working with Camp Restore, a New Orleans service organization that has rebuilt homes and community buildings, as well as replanted wetlands in communities affected by Katrina. The students will learn more about specific projects in pre-trip meetings closer to the break. On the trip, the students will have opportunities to experience some of New Orleans’ rich culture, as well as the chance to meet filmmaker and Milton alumna Chloe Walters-Wallace ’03.
CEPP is not the only program with a spring break trip.
Sixty singers and instrumentalists from the Chamber Singers and Chamber Orchestra will travel to Italy March 9 to tour and perform. The trip begins in Florence, and visits are scheduled for the cities of Pisa, Lucca and Assisi, before concluding in Rome. Students are scheduled to perform four times. The scheduled performances include a choral recital in the St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, and likely some orchestral concerts in churches, where the musicians can take advantage of legendary acoustics.
“It’s a big mix of sight-seeing, history and performance,” says music department faculty member Ted Whalen. “It’s a different experience for the students, and it’s incredibly exciting to perform in another country. Plus, they’re going with their friends, and that’s a big part of the draw: being able to explore a new place with friends.”
Several Milton spring sports teams will travel for the break as well. Baseball and softball will travel to Orlando, Florida; boys’ lacrosse to Tampa, Florida; girls’ lacrosse to Mesquite, Nevada; Tennis to LaJolla, California; and sailing to St. Petersburg, Florida.