Katrina evacuees look to future

By Nicole LaPrade

Even as they face difficult decisions about whether to stay or return to their home universities, the 45 evacuated students from the Gulf Coast region enjoyed their quarter in California, and thanked the Santa Clara community for welcoming them.

Learning to ride her new skateboard, taking voice lessons and picking up a minor in music are just some of the memories that freshman Tyreisha Foster will take with her from Santa Clara.

Foster had been in school at Xavier University in Louisiana for only one week when the storm hit and she had to flee. Originally she was told that after three days, she would be allowed to return to New Orleans.

"Honestly, what I thought was three days. They told us they'd evacuate us for three days and then we could come back," Foster said.

After taking a $160 hour-long taxi ride from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, she was able to make it onto a flight to stay with her aunt in Atlanta.

She said that while she loves Xavier and hopes to go back, she is still trying to determine when will be right for her.

"Honestly, I don't think it's safe yet," she said. "No matter if the school is up to par, is the city really? I think it's gonna take a lot longer than just a few months."

Foster also expressed gratitude for her family in San Jose and her "new family" on the second floor of Swig.

"I can't really complain about everything that happened over there. I'm just grateful that I came away with my life, the people that I met over there are safe, and my family's safe," Foster said.

At the same time, Loyola University New Orleans senior Luis Delarocha can't wait for "familiar faces" and "knowing where everything is."

Delarocha said that he and many other students from New Orleans have become good friends since coming to Santa Clara.

"The school rented a house for some girls on Poplar, so that's pretty much our headquarters," he said.

For junior Matt Vitou, returning to New Orleans was never a question.

"It's gonna be different, but I want to be down there to help rebuild it and stuff. I would feel guilty going down there for two years and having some of the best times of my life and then leaving once the city's gone through all that," Matt said.

Vitou's younger brother, John, was supposed to start his freshman year at Loyola the day the hurricane hit.

"It's going to be interesting to go back and see how it's different," John said of the comparisons his brother and other friends have made between Loyola and Santa Clara.

"I thought it was gonna be the worst semester ever, to be perfectly honest. Just because so much happened and being so far away from a lot of the people that I knew and I didn't know anyone. That was hard, but it ended up being the best situation because my only other option was to stay home and work," Matt Vitou said.

While at Santa Clara, the Vitou brothers and Delarocha have taken trips to Santa Cruz and San Francisco and enjoyed the California culture and weather.

"It's not 93 degrees and humid," Delarocha said.

One souvenir the men can take back to New Orleans from their stay in California are the skateboards donated by alumni.

"They were the perfect gift," John Vitou said about the skateboards with a Santa Clara logo sticker on the bottom. "The school's been amazingly generous," he said.

"Almost too nice," Matt Vitou said. "You almost feel guilty after everything that they're doing."

Contact Nicole LaPrade at (408) 554-4546 or at nlaprade@scu.edu.