September 7, 2005
Valdosta - Shayla Graham started her college career at Xavier University in New Orleans. "I wanted to get the whole college experience out of town," said Shayla.
But mother nature had different plans. "They had an evacuation meeting and then at 2:00 they told us to evacuate," said Shayla.
Like thousands of college students from Louisiana, Shayla must continue her education elsewhere because of the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. Now she's back in her hometown, taking classes at Valdosta State University. "Right now they've just postponed us and we're supposed to go back in January but they're not really sure if we can," said Shayla.
Displaced students can attend class at VSU just like any other transfer student, even if they don't have access to their college records. "We basically play 30 questions with them and try to get what they've had, what kind of grades they've made, because we don't want to overload anybody or get them in classes they're not prepared for," said Walter Peacock, Admissions Director.
Shayla is an engineering major and luckily, VSU is able to accommodate the type of course work she needs. "The teachers are working with me outside of class," said Graham.
She's not sure when, or if she'll ever go back to the college experience she started in Louisiana. "I'll probably go here for the whole year because I'm thinking Xavier won't be ready," said Shayla.
And until she can make those plans, this university will do all it can to provide her with a quality education.
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