This winter intercession, 23 students and one adult chaperone did the unthinkable — they became a family.
How, you ask? Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of seniors Alexandra Roem and Christopher Staysniak and the efforts of Green Campus Initiative (GCI), a portion of the Fairfield student body traveled to New Orleans for a week to help with projects organized by Rebuilding Together.
The trip was an experience of empowerment. Not only was it a completely student-run trip, but Staysniak and Roem devised the trip in the manner of Cura Personalis, helping us reflect upon ourselves while helping others. We spent the days either doing demolition or paint work, and in the evenings we heard from different speakers including a Katrina survivor, and representatives from Jesuit Services and Contemplatives in Action.
It was an intense experience — to feel like part of positive change in such a controversial, half-rebuilt city while simultaneously thinking about our futures and possible service work after graduation.
From the moment we stepped off the airplane and into the record cold, to the moment we stood on those levees, to the before and after pictures of the transformed houses, we became part of something bigger.
All I can say is thank you.
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