[StBernard] Students headed south again to Gulf Coast

[Westley Annis]

Students headed south again to Gulf Coast

TC Christian trip to help in rebuilding effort

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE
lvanhulle at record-eagle.com


TRAVERSE CITY -- The last time Stephanie Arnot went to the Gulf Coast with
her classmates, she watched from a bus window as the remains of Hurricane
Katrina streamed by.

She had seen news accounts of the wreckage in parts of Louisiana and
Mississippi following the 2005 storm, but somehow it all looked worse in
person.

She has no idea what she will see this time.

"It was strange, because we would be walking down the street and there would
be a boat in someone's yard, and half of a bridge would be wiped out," said
Stephanie, 17, a senior at Traverse City Christian School. "I've heard that
there's still a lot of work to be done."

More than 130 students from the school, which includes grades seven through
12, will travel to Chalmette, La., on Jan. 19 to assist in rebuilding
efforts.

It will be the school's second weeklong mission trip to the Gulf Coast,
following a tour of Pascagoula, Miss., in early 2006.

It is only the second mission trip in school history to include the entire
student body, Principal Patrick Rode said. Typically, members of the senior
class take their own trip each spring.

Students, staff and parent volunteers will stay in a New Orleans Baptist
church that converted its Sunday school rooms into dorms for visiting relief
workers. The students will be divided into teams and assigned projects in
Chalmette, just east of the city's ravaged Ninth Ward.

In 2000, Chalmette had slightly more than 32,000 people, census data show.

The trip will cost about $35,000, and students are raising funds to pay
their own way, Rode said.

A spaghetti dinner will be held Jan. 11 at the school to raise any
additional money.

Projects likely will include cleanup, tearing out insulation and patching
roofs, Rode said. The trip replaces their semester exams.

"In many ways, it was a life-changing experience for the kids last time," he
said, in part because the students learned teamwork skills in helping
others.

"We took them along the Gulf Coast and we turned a corner, and the buses
just turned dead silent," Rode said. "I was stunned."

Hannah Lutheran, 17, was among the students to participate nearly two years
ago. Both she and Stephanie made second trips with church groups.

She said interacting with residents was one of the most worthwhile parts of
the experience.

"Even though they had gone through a lot themselves, they were really
grateful that we were there," said Hannah, a senior. "I was really surprised
at how much we got accomplished in such a short amount of time."

How to help

Members of the Traverse City Christian School community will host a
spaghetti dinner Jan. 11 to raise additional money for an upcoming mission
trip to the Gulf Coast. Dinner will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the school,
753 Emerson Road. Plates cost $5 a person, or $20 a family. Proceeds will
benefit students' rebuilding work in Chalmette, La., just east of New
Orleans