CLARION – Hurricane Katrina caused devastation to the southern portion of the United States in 2005. Five years later, many areas are still rebuilding from the destruction. From Jan. 2-10, a party of five, including a Clarion University faculty member and two current students, went to Mississippi to help.
“We took a mission trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to help with relief work,” said Dr. Dana Madison, professor of mathematics, who coordinated the effort through Grace Evangelical Congregational Church in Knox. “We worked on a wide variety of projects, including electrical work, minor plumbing, putting insulation in an attic and under a house, along with other odd jobs.”
Madison invited students Gina Shero and Paul Kuberry to go on the trip.
“The church put up the money for two college students to go and I accepted,” said Shero, a junior secondary education/mathematics and mathematics major. “It was an amazing experience. This was my fifth mission trip and I love doing it and working with my hands. I went to Louisiana two and one-half years ago on another mission trip. I saw the devastation at that time and I thought it would be interesting to see what progress was made.”
Kuberry also participated in relief work previously, traveling to Florida following Hurricane Wilma. “I went because some friends were going,” he explained. “I don’t place great importance upon making money or using my time for recreation and helping others brings joy to both them and me. In the end they are helped and I will have lasting memories.”
Their work was coordinated through Lake Shore Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis. The church has hosted groups coming for rebuilding work for several years.
They helped with electrical work on the Mercy House, which houses a food pantry and clothing distribution center on one floor and multi-purpose room for classes and meetings on the second floor, and the bunkhouse, where volunteers stay while working in the area, where they built ladders for the bunk beds and dug out a water leak and installed new piping.
They also installed some of the insulation on a 90′ x 45′ house.
“We installed insulation and wired for a smoke detector in a house where a man was living with no electricity or running water,” said Shero.
“Installing the smoke detectors allowed him to have electricity turned on,” said Kuberry.
Shero is a daughter of Dave and Jane Shero of South Park and a graduate of South Park High School.
“I always like mathematics and I want to teach in high school,” said Shero about her selection of majors. “I liked Clarion’s size, its location, and the good education programs. I also play soccer and I liked the coach, so that was an added bonus.”
Kuberry, a senior mathematics major, is a son of Brent and Kaprice Kuberry of Pleasantville and Marcie and Daniel McFarland of Tionesta. Entering Clarion as a secondary education/biology major in 2005, he later switched to mathematics education and then to a straight mathematics major. His college career was split when he left to work at Franklin Steel for one and one-half years.
“There is a lot of freedom in mathematics,” said Kuberry about his choice of majors. “I want to go to graduate school for a master’s degree in mathematics.”