[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish community reflects on Hurricane Katrina anniversary

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish community reflects on Hurricane Katrina anniversary
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on August 29, 2013 at 1:25 PM, updated August 29, 2013 at 2:27 PM

On Hurricane Katrina's eight anniversary, St. Bernard Parish Public Schools
once again honored the day with reflection and optimism.

During the annual Day of Reflection event, "We're All In This Together,"
officials and storm survivors honored people who lost their lives during the
flooding that followed the failure of area levees, and reflected on the
area's long and remarkable recovery. 

Nearly 80 percent of St. Bernard's housing units had severe damage from
Katrina's storm surge and levee breaches.
As a result, the parish experienced the most dramatic population decline of
any community in the state since the storm, according to the 2010 census.
Its population fell by 47 percent from its 2000 figure of 67,229.

The guest speaker this year, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune columnist Sheila
Stroup, highlighted the strength and grit that has helped spur St. Bernard's
regrowth. Other participants in the event also noted dedicated volunteers,
locally and from across the country, who lent a hand to make St. Bernard a
home again for so many.

"Eight years, has it really been that long?" Chalmette High School student
Gabby Glapion asked classmate Callie Lambert. "Callie, we were in elementary
school then."

Superintendent Doris Voitier described the progress that the school system
has made and listed its accolades, for example how many of its grade levels
recently scored the state's top marks.

In terms of its student body, Voitier said, "perhaps we are building our own
engineering corps so we can continue to protect and rebuild our parish."

"It has been eight years of blood, sweat and tears, but look at the
results," Voitier told the hundreds of attendees that packed the Ninth Grade
Academy cafeteria in Chalmette.

Stroup thanked the community "for coming back and for being so resolute."

She recalled Amanda Hill, of Violet, and the dream jar that Hill had
salvaged from Katrina's rubble.

When Stoup first met Hill in 2007, Hill and her grandma were living in a
FEMA trailer in front of their Violet home. At that point, Hill was a senior
at Chalmette High. Since then, she has achieved the dreams she placed in
that jar eight years ago.

She graduated from high school with honors, she went to college, and,
recently, she graduated from LSU School of Nursing.

Stroup said a sign someone put up in St. Bernard after Katrina summed the
parish's spirit up nicely: "Tough times never last, but tough people do."

And as the morning service neared its close, a Chalmette High School choir
sang: "I won't give up on us. Even if the skies get rough I'm giving you all
my love. I'm still looking up..."