April 5, 2006 - Students Help Rebuild New Orleans During Spring Break

During spring break, eight Rider University students traveled to New Orleans to help rebuild communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Rider sophomore Krista Fincke, a Rider University Community Scholar, came up with the idea after looking up opportunities on line for ways to serve others in need.  She quickly found out about Opportunity Rocks 2006: Rebuilding the Gulf Coast, a national college student-grassroots effort spearheaded by Sen. John Edwards and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity.

When Fincke, an elementary education/mathematics major, returned to campus from winter break in January, she spread the word to other students, including members of her Alpha Xi Delta sorority house, Community Scholars and those who serve on the Senate of the Student Government Association. Many were interested but eight found the means to pay for their own air fare to New Orleans.

While there, the Rider group helped a homeowner strip the tiles, interior walls and ceilings off his nearly demolished house in St. Bernard Parish to make it possible for him to rebuild a new house on his property.  They also helped create garden paths for an art warehouse-turned environmental education center.  Filling in ditches with rocks, their goal was to help decontaminate the soil which was ruined by the hurricane’s floods.

“It is impossible to understand the devastation from 1,000 miles away, so I knew that if I wanted to help, I would have to make the trip myself,” said Fincke, who along with others arose at 5 a.m. for three days to take an approximately three-hour bus trek both ways to reach their work sites . “Deserted streets and abandoned homes only describe a portion of St. Bernard Parish,” she added.  “It was an eye opening experience.  All of the pictures in the media were nothing compared to experiencing it first hand. The stories the people told gave us more insight into this tragedy and their loss.”

During their visit, the students slept each night on sleeping bags and air mattresses with 550 students across the country. Their headquarters: Southern University’s F.G. Clark Activity Center in Baton Rouge.

“This can serve as the pilot effort for next year,” said Mary Ann Somaine, Class of 2005, a graduate assistant in Rider’s Center for Multicultural Affairs and Community Service.  “In addition to traveling to Jamaica and Santo Domingo to help others, students can plan to work in New Orleans. There is so much work to be done and so many ways to serve others everywhere.”

In addition to Fincke and Somaine, the Rider students who worked in New Orleans were: Andrew Grandin, a freshman business administration major; Nicole Lombardo, a junior marketing major; Amanda Caputo, a junior elementary education/psychology major; Brigid Redmond, a junior communication major; Jennifer Parks, a sophomore communication major; and Christina Bartiromo, a senior accounting major.

Rider University is a student-centered community of learners regionally recognized as a top-tier institution. With campuses located in Lawrenceville and Princeton, NJ, Rider is an independent, residential university with 5,500 undergraduate, graduate and non-traditional students. Ninety-six percent of the faculty hold Ph.D.s or appropriate advanced degrees.  Rider offers more than 60 undergraduate programs in the fine and performing arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, education and business, as well as 17 graduate programs principally in business, education and music.  Premier national accreditations in business, accounting, teacher education, music and counseling services validate Rider’s high academic stature.