Credit: Christina Blacken '10

Credit: Branden Bryan '11

Camp Coastal Outpost, a cluster of tents and cabins just off Interstate 10 in Kiln, Miss., was home base to 18 Cornellians and 430 other volunteers working on a Hurricane Katrina rehabilitation project in nearby New Orleans during spring break.

Organized by Hillel International and Cornell Hillel, the trip was just one of numerous other Cornell service trips during spring break. The Cornell Public Service Center's Alternative Spring Break program, for example, sent 100 Cornell students on 12 different trips, from Boston and Orlando to rural West Virginia, tackling service-learning projects on such varied issues as urban poverty, hunger, inadequate housing, domestic violence, homelessness, civil rights, HIV/AIDS, farmworkers, at-risk youth and environmental damage. And other Cornellians serving in New Orleans last week included students with Engineers for a Sustainable World; 40 law students, who offered legal aid as well as physical labor; and architecture students, who conducted a land survey.

What struck many Cornellians upon arriving in New Orleans on the Hillel trip was the persistent evidence of overwhelming devastation.

"It seems like progress has been made, but there's a long way to go," said Julie Leviter '09. "There are many people who need to get their lives back in order."

Leviter and six other Cornell students worked on a house in the historic district of New Orleans called Treme, painting, sanding and mortaring, among other tasks.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the trip, said Leviter, was meeting the homeowners. "It means a lot just to know we are making a difference in the life of one person," said Leviter.

Not too far away, law students worked with various state, parish and nonprofit organizations alongside students from law schools around the country, and three students and an instructor from the class Civil and Environmental Engineering 492: Engineers for a Sustainable World met with residents and organizations as part of an ongoing project to bring green and alternative design elements to rebuilding projects in New Orleans. The engineers met with a pastor of a church that is heavily involved in rebuilding health and educational facilities in the 7th Ward and with lowernine.org, a group working on rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward.

"The course emphasizes that designs do not occur 'in a vacuum,' and engagement with communities that the designs are to serve is paramount," said Park Doing, a Cornell lecturer in electrical and computer engineering and a co-instructor of the course. "This trip afforded the students such an opportunity, as they saw firsthand many areas of devastation in New Orleans, met directly with residents who told them stories of survival and talked about their visions for the future, and engaged directly with the planning and zoning offices at the New Orleans City Hall.

"To me, students are bringing elements of design to the rebuilding of houses and facilities, such as solar panels and passive heating and cooling, that can allow the residents to be more energy independent, and this was an idea that resonated very strongly with the residents that we spoke with," Doing said.

Jill McCoy '09 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle. Susan S. Lang contributed to the writing and reporting of this story.