Schools in Progress

By hannah robert, guest contributor A school campus with the lights on but empty. The school doors barricaded, still keeping students out. The school cafeteria not holding food but instead debris. The school parking lot with no cars parked but instead dumpsters. The building is closed, and yet, school continues. South Terrebonne High School is a school in lower Terrebonne Parish that was devastated when Hurricane Ida hit on Aug. 26, 2021. Since then, the students have not set foot within the main school buildings. They platooned at H.L. Bourgeois High School last year and now attend classes in trailers, and yet they are an A school and have successful sports and band programs this year. Through it all, they have maintained their culture through sharing in community, giving without expecting anything in return and having hope. When the hurricane hit, it changed the South Terrebonne area for good. Katy Ledet, activities coordinator at the school, says that everyone talks about time in terms of “before and after Ida” because that was when time and reality changed. South Terrebonne had 970 students before the hurricane, but after it hit, the numbers went down to 826. The students were out of school until Sept. 28 and off their campus for one year. When they went to school at H.L Bourgeois, students attended their classes from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Students would often not get home until 7:30 p.m. or later because of traffic and problems staffing buses. The problems with platooning didn’t end there. There were also deeper problems of being away from home. Hayden Robichaux, student council and cheer sponsor, says “It was a traumatic experience for all of us. It felt like we were in survival mode. We were able to have class thanks to HLB, but we kept our heads down and didn’t realize how big what we were going through was until it was over.” Ledet says that it was all about being in a blue school. They had prom in H.L. Bourgeois’ gym with their mascot, the Brave, looking down at them. She says that everywhere she looked it was their colors and she just wanted to be back in a green school. “Not being surrounded by our colors, traditions, mascot, community and culture was so jarring. We were so far removed from our community and our green school. We needed to be back on the bayou” Ledet says They had to pause their traditions because they only had 35-minute classes and one football field for all of the parish’s schools to use. St. Ann Catholic Church in Bourg helped South Terrebonne during that year by giving them a place to hold events. The church gave them a key to their community center with no strings attached. They didn’t have to pay for expenses or book days to use the building. It was open to them. The South Terrebonne baseball team’s journey to the playoffs gave the community hope for the first time after the hurricane. No one expected the team to do anything because of the struggles they had to deal with, but they did it anyway. Ledet was live streaming the semi-final game for dozens of students at H.L. Bourgeois during recess. As she watched the team make the play to win their spot in the finals, Ledet broke down. She cried, hugged, laughed and cheered for the Gators. “It was the first time in this very blue school that we had such a perfect, green memory,” she says. The players played for their community and dedicated the school’s first state championship win to them. The team gave hope to the community for the first time since Hurricane Ida hit. “For a moment, nobody was worried about how far away school was. Nobody was worried about insurance,” Ledet says. “Nobody was worried about the tarp on their roof. Everybody was just watching baseball.” The community’s mindset shifted from focusing on the rebuilding to celebrating with the Gators. The community honored that throughout this year by making them captains of the Hercules parade and throwing banquets. The South Terrebonne baseball field is being repaired in time for the baseball season in the spring, so the Gators can play at home. This school and its community has helped each other, asking for nothing in return. The students have given the community something to celebrate and hope for during the long process of piecing their lives back together. The community has donated money, equipment and buildings to use to the school. “That is the essence of not only being Cajun but being a Gator,” Robichaux says. “It’s like when we were gutting my mom’s house after the storm. My neighbors came over and helped out just because, and while they were there, we fixed them dinner.” On Aug. 4 2022, the building of the trailer classrooms was finished and teachers got access to the buildings. The next day was their scheduled open house. Open house at South Terrebonne is normally a scheduled event with parents moving from classroom to classroom on a bell schedule to meet teachers. Because there was no time to prepare, the school hosted a different kind of open house. They unlocked the doors of the new campus and just let people walk around and take it in. Robichaux says that it turned into a “Where are you now?” talk. Everyone could finally see what progress has been made on the school, so they talked about what progress everyone had made at home. Who was back in their houses, who was still living in campers, who still had nothing and how everyone felt. Robichaux says that everyone breathed a sigh of relief that they were finally back home at South Terrebonne. They didn’t have to drive their kids across Houma every day for school. School would finally take place back on South Terrebonne’s campus. Just because they were back on campus didn’t mean all of their problems were solved. The teachers had