2008 Woodie Awards
Putting Katrina to bed: Golda presents slideshow
Arianne Rasmussen
Issue date: 3/30/06 Section: News
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Students, faculty, and staff members gathered at The Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts on the evening of Tuesday, March 21, to watch presentation slides that ranged from shocking images to funnier ones that acted as comic relief from the powerful subject at hand, "Pushing Back the Wave: Sacred Heart University Responds to the Gulf Coast Crisis," in which a few of the 34 students, faculty and administrators who spent spring break week in Mississippi aiding hurricane victims recounted their experiences.
From the image of a once vibrant American flag, now mangled and tangled in branches, rubbish, and dirt of those dilapidated roofless churches, destroyed buildings, rotting food, twisted metal, and what were once someone else's dear possessions; the slide presentation did not fail to illustrate the conditions in which the area is still encountered.
"The photo with the flags torn and tangled in the trees struck me the hardest in the presentation," said Elizabeth Robertson, sophomore, Cromwell, who watched the presentation and heard the firsthand accounts. "I found it heartbreaking that these people were very proud of our country, and yet, it seems little is being done to help them."
Jenna Rignanese, sophomore, Cumberland, R.I., another student who saw the presentation added, "The news lead me to think New Orleans was the only place that was hit by this storm. I was surprised by the amount of destruction and how far it reached. I was surprised that six months later there is still so much left unfixed."
Overwhelmed and shocked was the way most people described their firsthand impression of the area in the presentation.
Even "stuffed animals that are made to look so cheerful did not look it at all," said Gregory J. Golda, Clinical Instructor of Media Studies and Coordinator of Multimedia Productions, in the presentation.
Diana Bramante, junior, North Bellmore, N.Y., a student present at the trip said, "I was in total shock. I didn't know what to expect and I was kind of numb for a few days. Then, when we went to church on Sunday at the parish of St. Anne, it really hit me and I got a little emotional."