While Riverside Academy students were recovering from Hurricane Ida, students around the state were feeling empathy for what they were going through. 

Students at Westlake High School near Lake Charles, who were hit by two hurricanes last summer, sent hand-written letters to RA students to show their support. The letters were sent to ELA teacher Mrs. Katy Marse’s students by her friend and former college softball teammate Savannah Havard and her students. The Westlake students shared the some of the same troubles that the students of Riverside were experiencing.

Through email Mrs. Marse said, “After the storm hit, a group of my LSU-Eunice college teammates got together to gather supplies for my family. One of them drove from Lake Charles to my home in Gramercy to bring lots of supplies like diapers, formula, work gloves, food, water, cleaning supplies, etc. One of my teammates, Savannah Havard, decided to do something for my students because they all experienced something traumatic. Her students wrote letters to our students. Some letters were encouraging words and some were their personal experiences from Hurricane Laura and Delta. It was extremely heart-warming to be able to relate to students across the state. After reading and talking about the Westlake High School letters my students wrote letters back to them.”