Growing up along the Gulf Coast, the events you use to measure the passage of time tend to differ from the rest of the country. Sure there are the championships, but I’m referring to more natural events.
The first tropical storm of hurricane season always brings back memories, and believe it or not, they’re more good than bad.
I remember sitting in my grandparent’s house during Andrew, hearing the howling and crashes outside, but being so young that I just thought it was fun staying up all night with my parents playing games. Even when we emerged the next morning to find a tree in my parents’ bedroom, the feeling was less that we dodged a bullet, and more that we could survive anything together after that.
I remember my first few days on campus at LSU. I was so enamored with my new life as a college student, I didn’t even know a storm was in the Gulf. From my dorm window I could see the emergency vehicles outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, one of the state’s many impromptu triage units. Katrina had blown through in what felt like a matter of minutes, and suddenly my first semester of college didn’t feel as exciting as it once did.
Despite being suddenly surrounded by tragedy, I think that’s when I really fell in love with my university.
We took our cues from the student-athletes we had read so much about before getting to campus. Our star quarterback was housing his entire family in his dorm room. Scholarship players were volunteering their time unloading evacuees and supporting triage.
We knew regular students and faculty were making sacrifices also, but there was something about the student-athlete’s stories that made everything real for us. They were representatives of the entire University, stepping up when the community needed them.
Ten years later, I see these events in a new light. There were dozens of athletic department employees behind the scenes, and in some cases, out in the chaos themselves, who were connecting our school’s athletic ambassadors with opportunities to help. Whether they knew it or not, they were leading the entire University and setting an example for what selflessness means.
In times of tragedy, people become scared and desperate. I don’t know how many times I was told to avoid certain parts of campus at night because of the sudden influx of people who had lost everything. But then I saw and heard stories of volleyball players, and football stars, and eventually, normal students stepping up because their community and state needed them.
Those examples made sense out of the chaos for me and so many other students at LSU, and I’m sure my story isn’t unique.
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