When Lauren Bartholomew '09 arrived on campus this fall, she — like most incoming students — brought along all her personal belongings and treasured possessions. But for Bartholomew, all these items could fit in the palms of her hands.
The place she calls home, New Orleans, La., experienced the horrifying devastation of Hurricane Katrina mere days before the start of her freshman year.
"It was really hard to leave," Bartholomew said. "I didn't even want to come to school, but I had to make the best [of it]."
Bartholomew and other Princeton students whose lives were forever altered by the hurricane — including Ryan Becker '07, Jonathan Leslie '08 and Jennifer Mickel '07 — are now a safe distance from the devastation. But the process of coping and recovery has just begun.
Bartholomew and her family evacuated to Memphis, Tenn., before the storm hit. When her father returned to New Orleans last week to check on their flooded house, which was nearly impossible to enter, Bartholomew said he described "the horrible stench of the water."
"It is weird because I have the key to my house, but no house to use it in," she said.
In contrast to the media's bleak portrayal of New Orleans' displaced residents, Bartholomew said in a speech at the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert Thursday that she is neither a refugee nor a victim, but rather a survivor.
"I am still alive and will not let the dark side of Mother Nature deter me from continuing the life I once lived," she said in her speech. "I, along with many loyal residents, will return to the city we treasure and rebuild."
In the meantime, she is coping with the struggle of returning to campus.
The University administration contacted Bartholomew, as well as other affected students needing assistance, to assure them of material and moral support with everything from linens to counseling.
Bartholomew said she finds it difficult to focus on adjusting to a new school without being preoccupied by the devastation her family suffered.
"Some days are okay, and other days, I cry my eyes out," she said.
Becker also experienced the agony of leaving his home without knowing whether it would be there when he returned.
When Becker and his family learned that the hurricane was expected to hit their city, they began making preparations immediately.
"We were all cleaning up and getting the house ready for the hurricane with plywood on the windows," he said.
For Becker, the experience sank in when his father told him he could take only two bags to take when they evacuated.
"It is an incredible experience, trying to decide which belongings to take," he said. "I was looking in my room, and I took pictures and things that you cannot replace because everything else is material. I also took clothes and my computer because it has all of my work on it."
Becker and his family went to Dallas, Texas, where two of his sisters live.
"I spent hours in front of the television, hoping to see my house or street," he said. "I was like a zombie."
Since the hurricane, Becker's father has also returned to New Orleans to check on the condition of their house.
"The road was impossible to get through because of the number of trees," he said. "My dad had to throw away furniture because of mold."
To assist with his return to school, the University offered help with books, linens and other supplies, and also held Becker's fall tuition in abeyance until November, when it is hoped that the situation will improve.
Becker described the disaster as "a roller coaster."
"There was the direct aftermath of the storm where we thought it was okay, and then six hours later the levee breaks and you don't know if your house is underwater," he said.
After Katrina, Becker said that returning to school was a relief.
"I am fine now, and being back to school is the best thing ever."
Leslie did not have to go far to witness the chaos on the first day of Tulane University's school year — he lives directly across the street from Tulane's campus.
"The day that they called for evacuation was Tulane moving day," he said.
Leslie recalls his family's rapid departure after New Orleans called for an evacuation.
"We were watching the news, waiting for them to tell us what to do," he said. "When we left, we only took a couple of things. I thought the worst would be that we would come back to New Orleans a couple of days later."
Leslie and his family evacuated to Houston, and when the storm hit, they thought that the worst was over.
"But then when the flood wall broke and the city was filling up with water, we had to give up hope of going back," he said.
Leslie, however, is one of the luckier residents: His home is still partially intact after the storm.
"My house is off of the ground, and my dad went back to check the house and get belongings," he said. "We have a couple feet of water in the garage and a lot of mold."
Because Leslie was ready to go back to school directly from his refuge in Houston, the University allowed him and other students from New Orleans to return to campus earlier.
Leslie said he has found the experience surreal.
"New Orleans doesn't usually get a lot of press," he said. "Now when people ask me where I am from, it is a completely different conversation because of the different view of the city."
Despite the hundreds of miles that separate Mickel's hometown from the center of the storm, she too has witnessed Katrina's aftermath firsthand.
Mickel is from Monroe, La., where she said between two and three thousand New Orleans evacuees have settled.
"For me, it wasn't as personal as my town, but it is my state," she said. "New Orleans is the heart and soul of Louisiana, and you don't want bad things to happen to it."
Living in Monroe in the direct aftermath of the storm, Mickel recalled how minor inconveniences, such as broken credit card machines and gasoline shortages, demonstrated to her the magnitude of the devastation.
In her speech at the benefit concert, Mickel said she "felt helpless and impotent." But her actions seem to demonstrate otherwise.
Mickel traveled to New Orleans before the start of school, volunteering her time by folding and handing out linens to those without any.
"It was quite literally the only thing I could have done," she said.
Now, from an even greater distance, Mickel is trying to stay active in the volunteer efforts.
I have been so involved," she said. "I am trying to channel my helplessness into good."
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