Class of 2006 Post-Katrina: Where are they now?, The

Black Collegian, Oct 2006 by Roussell, Rebecca K

"I love Houston, but [I] just did not like the institution."

Before Katrina, Griffin would study with friends for the LSAT, which he was scheduled to take in October 2006.

"When Hurricane Katrina hit, all of my dreams and aspirations went away for a week," he said. "I could not think of life, but had to get myself back together."

Griffin was able to postpone taking the test until December. He took practice tests and studied every night, which would prove to be one of the hardest feats he would accomplish, he said. He had a rigorous workload at school. Meanwhile, a close friend from Dillard died in an automobile accident in Atlanta.

"It was hard as hell," Griffin said. "I had to take the test three days after he passed away."

But he did. And the rest is history.

Griffin returned to Dillard University in January and applied to law school that same month. Attending school in a hotel seemed attractive at first, but the novelty wore off after the first month, Griffin said. Still, he was glad to see all of his friends and classmates, and just happy to be back "home."

"When you are away from home, you have to get back," Griffin said. "That was my institution and I was going to support it." He even worked alongside landscapers to revive Dillard's campus for the traditional graduation on the Rosa Freeman Keller Avenue of the Oaks.

After all he'd been through, graduation was something to remember, he said - a "beautiful experience."

Danielle Haney, 21

Xavier University of Louisiana

B.S. Biology

In August, Danielle Haney moved to Philadelphia to enroll in the doctoral program in immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. It's a big move for the Zachary, La., resident, but one that is intended to fulfill her dreams.

Last year at this time, she was on the move, too, but back then Hurricane Katrina and floods were to blame.

For a time, Haney said, the disaster took away the excitement and anticipation she was feeling about graduating from Xavier University in Louisiana, one of several Gulf state colleges and universities forced temporarily to close in fall 2005.

Just days before the hurricane, Haney had taken the GRE.

"My mind was already set on graduate school," Haney said. "I was just removed."

Haney had been in school for only a week when Katrina emerged to threaten New Orleans and parts of the Gulf Coast. She had ridden out hurricanes before, but something about Katrina did not feel right. So, she packed to evacuate immediately.

"That day it just felt weird, and she did not look like she was turning," said Haney, who kept track of the storm from Zachary, La., her hometown.

With communications from Xavier hampered, its students and faculty still scattered, Haney enrolled at Louisiana State University on Sept. 7.

She did not plan to be at LSU the entire fall semester, or try to make new friends there, she says, and sometimes she did not feel welcomed. That year, there was a controversy over the purple and gold Confederate flag flown at university football games. She felt she was just a social security number at that school. She went to class and then went home; at Xavier, she had always remained on campus and hung out with friends.