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South Milwaukee educators and students meet after school to get to acquainted before their roadtrip to New Orleans, where they will spend spring break gutting houses in hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods as part of a volunteer service-learning project. Pictured left to right are Dan Lesniak, science teacher; Cassie Doxtater, social studies teacher; Daniel Townsend, junior; Principal Gary
Kiltz; Jeffrey Mateo, senior; Erik Richards, social studies teacher; and Kathy Knoll, social studies teacher and project coordinator. Seated: Sarah Jones, senior; Heather Lara, senior; and Lauren Schaus, senior. (Team members not pictured are students Chrissy Olson and Ryan Haag; Darla Wack, staff; and other adults are Kate Clyne, Gail Kern and Phil Knoll.)
By Molly Thompson
When South Milwaukee High School social studies teacher Kathy Knoll put the call out for volunteers to spend spring break gutting houses left in ruins by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, she wasn't sure who would respond.
Knoll needed a minimum of 10 volunteers to participate in Operation Helping Hands, a program run through Catholic Charities of New Orleans that helps hurricane-displaced families reoccupy their homes. The government has started razing some of the houses, many of which are still saturated with flood water. Operation Helping Hands aims to save the houses. Volunteers remove any items that can be salvaged, and then pull out damaged walls, floors and wiring, and spray the homes with sanitizer to kill bacteria.
"I just sent out an e-mail to the staff, and it was read on the announcements. The response was overwhelming," Knoll said. "So many people wanted to go, and there were so many others who couldn't go but wanted to help."
In the end, nine adults and seven students fit the volunteer criteria (Catholic Charities requires an age limit of 18 years, which made most students ineligible), but the entire school is helping to raise the needed $5,000 for the trip. Each volunteer paid $100 and then was responsible for raising at least another $100. The team was about $1,000 short as of mid-March. Besides planned fundraisers, including a raffle for an IPod that netted several hundred dollars, Knoll gets handfuls of pocket change and spare dollars from staff and students almost daily. She's also getting contributions from retired South Milwaukee High School staff.
"It all adds up – and it shows how much everyone here wants to be involved," Knoll said. "We're hoping to be able to bring some kind of memento to leave with the families down there - something to remind them that we were there and we care about the people who are still homeless and displaced. We haven't forgotten about them."
The journey
The team will pile into two vans Easter Sunday for the 16-hour drive and return home the following Saturday. Knoll is splitting them into two groups with students and staff equally dispersed in each van. Social studies teacher Cassie Doxtater can't wait.
"A long road trip is actually a great way to really get to know each other," said Doxtater, who is a new teacher, but this will be her second long road trip with students. Last November she rode a bus with students for 21 hours to Washington, D.C.
"Traveling there and back is part of the experience," she said. "We had students keep journals for the Washington D.C. trip. There were times when we told them to get out their journals and write about what they were thinking and feeling. It's one thing to look back, but when they journal, they are in the moment. The journal becomes more than a great souvenir of the trip; it also engages the learning process."
Staff team members are meeting now to discuss how they should handle emotional issues that may arise on the trip.
"We'll be going into people's homes and seeing a lot of very real destruction," said Principal Gary
Kiltz. "There could possibly be family pets who were left behind, that we find dead, still in the homes. Our students are mature, but this kind of thing can be emotional at any age."
Students say they are well aware that this isn't a fun-in-the-sun spring break adventure.
"When I heard about this trip, I told some people that I wanted to go and they said, 'No, don't. Why would you want to do that?'" said senior Jeffrey Mateo. "But I knew I had to go. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this to help."
Many seniors wanted to go, but had too many other obligations as they prepare for graduation. Senior Lauren Schaus, who is a triplet, is the only sibling of her threesome who could make the trip.
Like most of the team, Schaus knows Kevin Arts, who graduated from South Milwaukee High School and was about to start his first semester at Tulane University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Arts ended up attending Marquette University that semester and volunteered to help the recovery, also through Catholic Charities.
"Kevin told us what it is really like down there, and how they really need our help," Schaus said. "There are lots of things I could do this spring break, but nothing that would be as meaningful."
Service learning
Service learning projects, such as this, are growing in popularity at schools throughout the state. South Milwaukee has several under its belt in recent years, including a community walk to raise money for Honduras, which was also ravaged by a hurricane. Knoll spearheaded that project as well.
"Kathy is an organizer," said English teacher Marlene Ott, whose classroom is next to Knoll's. "She's always having meetings and getting students involved - and teachers. Even if we can't physically go, we can all help by supporting those who can."
The team still has a lot of work to do before they leave April 16. First, they need to raise the rest of the money. They are also looking for corporate sponsors to help them obtain safety equipment, such as face masks with respirators to protect them from mold and other toxins as they work in the waterlogged houses.
If you would like to help with supplies or other donations, contact Knoll at (414) 766-5235 or Knoll.Kathleen@sdsm.k12.wi.us.
Posted March 22, 2006 |