Arrival by Alan King
After enduring a twenty-four hour bus ride with loud group of freshmen singing everything from Disney soundtracks to New Jack and current “radio” R&B, you, too, would rejoice at the sight of Dillard University.Over 500 hundred Howard
University students gave up cook-outs and lying under beach umbrellas to do the good work of assisting in the recovery efforts for Hurricane Katrina survivors. We off-loaded around 12:30pm and made our way down the path of wild grass and clovers on either side of the sidewalk to the Lawless Memorial Chapel, which was built on Oct. 23, 1955.With time to spare before the orientation, most volunteers, who are lucky, take their post at available outlets while others try figure out how they’re going to charge their cell phones. The long line to the women’s room drive some to develop the buddy system, taking turns standing watch outside the men’s room as each of them go in and out. The adventurous ones, in their “Howard University” t-shirts, toured the 55-acre plantation-style campus marked by the smaller quarters bordering the prominent Library, which was the first academic building erected on the campus on May 1934, according to the brass plaque.
Back in the chapel, Rev. Gail Bowman opened up with a prayer for a spirit of cooperation. “Bless us. Bless them. Bless this city. Bless all those who waited for help to come,” she said. “Help is here.” Dr. Iva Carruthers, general secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, revived the spirits of the volunteers with a pep talk about being an important link in an already recognized legacy of Howard University students. “We are at a sacred moment in time that not only will you create the story, but to tell it. You are going back in time in order to create the future, and that’s the spirit of Sankofa,” Carruthers said. “We must be a voice for those struggling to be heard.”
Councilman Derrick James Carter, a Howard alumnus, recalled his freshman year at the university to a standing ovation. “Who would’ve imagined that in 2007, we would have five hundred might students of Howard in New Orleans,” Carter said. “You’re not only local leaders and national leaders. You are expected to be international leaders. This is probably the largest contingency of students coming to New Orleans.”
Ceeon Quiett, who spoke on behalf the mayor, said that this experience was a way of continuing what those before us have laid the foundation for. “I hope that you take back that the will of the people in New Orleans is still strong,” Quiett said.
Alan King is a senior print journalism major. He is a getting his story ambition on to the 100th degree in New Orleans, representing the Capstone News Network well.