When the 110 mile-per-hour winds of Hurricane Ike slammed into Texas towns Galveston and Houston on September 13th, a group of Choate students waited to hear from their families and friends. “It was really hard to be at school,” Houston resident Nandi Anderson ’10 said. “I couldn’t get the feeling of what was happening at home.”
Roy Collins ’09, a Houston native who has family in both Houston and Galveston, expressed similar sentiments: “I felt a little strange being away from home, because I wasn’t experiencing it, but I checked in with my grandmother and cousins throughout the whole process. I’m glad I was able to contact them through it.”
The hurricane began as a tropical disturbance off the coast of Africa in August, and then escalated across the Atlantic through the Cape Verde Islands. The most powerful hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season, Ike caused immeasurable damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba, and Galveston, Texas. “There are about a dozen [Choate] students from the area that was hit,” said Mr. Ford, Dean of Students.
The Choate administration’s response to the hurricane was to contact the families who might be involved. “We contacted all the families who are from the Houston and Galveston area to see how they were faring. The response ranged from people who were fine to people who had no power for two weeks, to those who were worse off,” Mr. Ford said. “[We did it] to make sure the families were aware that we knew they were in some distress.”
Students who live in Texas are concerned about the devastation they will see when they return home. “There was a story on CNN that showed a whole side of the Galveston Flagship Hotel torn off,” explained Collins. “My grandmother only lives two to three blocks from there, so that obviously was pretty scary for me.” He said that his father has returned to Galveston to assess the damages, which are relatively mild and mostly external problems. But Collins cited a doorway panel, which was of particular concern to him because it records the heights of generations of his family. “Even though it’s in the middle of the house, I’m especially worried about that wall,” he said. As for his family in Houston, Collins said their worst hardship was a power outage that lasted for a couple of days. “In Houston, I don’t think it will be too bad. The power is back on, and things will get back to normal.”
Nanna Waldroup ’09 had difficulties as well: her mother went missing for several days when all phones and other means of communication were dead in Houston. “But everything was okay,” she said. “My grandma got worried when my mom didn’t call, so she called the German consulate and they couldn’t find her. When my mom heard she was on the news listed as missing, she called me and my grandma.” Waldroup explained that her mother evacuated to a hotel with several tall stories to be safe from the floodwater. But now that the press has gotten wind of the tale, Waldroup will be interviewed about the situation. “A newspaper is going to run a story, so Ms. Miller [the sixth form girls’ dean] wants me to go to her office and talk about what to say to the paper,” she explained.
“Students should be more conscious of events like Hurricane Ike,” said Anderson. “Many don’t even know of any outside issues.” Mr. Ford also said that it is a boarding school student’s responsibility to know what is happening in the outside world, if only to support friends who are affected.
Choate students are organizing to provide relief funds for victims of Hurricane Ike. Collins, the president of CALSA, is going to run a fundraiser: “Choate students should be more aware [of the hurricane]. That’s one of CALSA’s goals in this fundraiser, to advertise Ike more and raise money to help fix the damage that was done.”
