GC&SU enrolls hurricane victims

Georgia College & State University enrolled its first student victims from Hurricane Katrina this week, with many more expressing interest.

As of Wednesday, two students had officially enrolled, with others expected soon. The two students came to GC&SU from Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of New Orleans. Both schools were located in New Orleans. The students names have not yet been released.

Vice President for Institutional Research and Enrollment Management Dr. Paul Jones led the admissions process for the two students.

“We have had several inquiries from students, and we expect to continue to receive some inquiries, even though we are quite a ways into the semester,” Jones said. “Some of that is that there are about 70,000 students affected by this, and in some cases, like with Xavier and Tulane, have actually cancelled fall semester or delayed it until January. So, because of that, students are looking for places to go.”

President Dorothy Leland said this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for students affected by Hurricane Katrina.

“Although starting classes late will pose additional

challenges for dislocated students who enroll here, I am confident that GC&SU faculty, staff and students will ‘pull out all the stops’ to ensure that these students have a rewarding experience,” Leland said.

Shaina McGill, senior director of advising and retention for the Center of Student Success, advised the two students after they were admitted to the university.

McGill was responsible for finding the right fit for the students in classes and around campus.

“It gives me an opportunity to talk to the students about where they are in their curriculum, what schools they have attended, and then to determine where to go from here on out,” McGill said. “Because they are so unfamiliar with not only the campus, but with the geographic local, the chances are they have very little exposure to Milledgeville and GC&SU. To prevent them from having to track down their own resources we have provided one contact that can help them.”

Another aspect of McGill’s job with the new students was to help them with their transition to a new school and state.

“I think that all students have a transition when they go to college, and so I think that it is going to be an extremely challenging one for these students,” McGill said. “They have been uprooted, and even though they knew the storm was coming, there is no way to know the magnitude of what is going to happen to you educationally and everything that they have worked so hard for. I think that this is an optimum school for all students, but especially ones like that. It is really wonderful that they can come to a school of this size and this nature.”

Rebekah Poston, a graduate public administration student, thinks that the new students still may have a difficult time adjusting to their new surroundings.

“I think this whole situation is going to be hard no matter how easy we try and make it,” Poston said. “Regardless of what services are provided, things are going to be difficult. Every school has a different environment, and all students react differently to different situations. We have a lot of people who don’t know if their families are alive or where they can find them.”

Both McGill and Jones were part of a group put together by President Dorothy Leland to determine what the GC&SU community could do to help hurricane victims.

“Certainly Georgia College wants to do its part as well,” Jones said. ‘The president had several members of the cabinet come together, and we talked through this, and we made sure that we put together something that would help these victims.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 9 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry