Hope Lee Gorman Loughran started teaching in New Orleans a week before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.
The Lancaster County native was working at the Jean Gordon Elementary School in the Broadmoor neighborhood when the massive storm surged, causing the levee to break, wiping out her school and neighborhood Aug. 29, 2005.
Meanwhile, in Lancaster, Carol Welsh, director of The Pennsylvania Governor's School for Teaching at Millersville University, saw a newspaper story about Loughran's plight and tracked her family down through the phone book.
"I asked her if she wanted to come work in our Governor's School to talk to the students about what she'd been through," Welsh said of Loughran, a 1999 Conestoga Valley High School graduate.
Loughran worked with Welsh for about a month, and the two forged a lasting friendship.
"She is a positive person and a wonderful voice for the kids she teaches," Welsh said.
This year, the Millersville University School of Education's Reason for the Season fundraising program will benefit Loughran's school, which is being rebuilt.
Students in the Color of Teaching program — a mentoring program for students of color in middle and high schools interested in the teaching profession — have partnered with the School of Education to collect donations of money and school supplies in Millersville's Student Memorial Center until Jan. 25.
Miriam Witmer, adjunct professor and director of the Color of Teaching Committee, said eight college students serving as "Color of Teaching" mentors will speak at the American Association of Colleges For Teacher Education conference in New Orleans Feb. 7 to 10.
"We decided that would be a great time to visit Hope's school and give her the donations we collect," she said.
The trip to New Orleans is being funded by the Office of Social Equity and Justice, the School of Education, the Education Foundation and student research grant money, Witmer said.
Loughran now works at New Orleans' Edward Hynes Charter School, which was also devastated by Hurricane Katrina but reopened on split campuses. This year, it shares a site with Moton Charter School on the campus of St. James Major, said Loughran, who has been nominated for Teacher of the Year for Lower School for Orleans Parish 2008.
Supplies sent by Millersville are helping students return to a more normal school environment.
Welsh said the university continues to help Loughran's students because they lost everything. "We can't forget about them, the need is still there, especially in the Broadmoor neighborhood."
The students are collecting supplies like aprons for craft projects, chalk, puzzles and pencils; just about everything needed in a primary school setting.
"Many donations that we have received have enhanced concepts for learning and also those of healing that exist as a result of Katrina," Loughran wrote.
"Millersville University has my sincere gratitude for helping my students learn while they are having fun. The evidence is in the smiles, the thank-you letters, and their confidence."
For more information, contact Welsh at Carol.Welsh@Millersville.edu.
Cris Foehlinger is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is cfoehlinger@lnpnews.com.
