Holy Cross School in New Orleans is one of the oldest boys' school in the City. My father graduated from there in 1906 when it was known as Holy Cross College. Our three sons graduated from there also.
It is located on the Mississippi River Road in the Ninth Ward. Anyone who watched television during Hurricane Katrina aftermath heard Ninth Ward over and over as it had some of the worse flooding and again in Hurricane Rita. Holy Cross School stood in ten feet of water for several weeks.
More than half of the senior class lived in Chalmette and vicinity and everyone in the class suffered Hurricane damage. Many of them are living in other states and some have no homes at all.
The School opened a satellite campus in Baton Rouge and our grandson commutes almost 200 miles every day to attend classes from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on someone else's campus. Today was the ring ceremony for his class at the LSU Catholic Chapel, where my husband and I met many years ago. The ceremony was originally scheduled for the weekend after Katrina in a Lakeview church that suffered severe flooding and is being restored. I can see the fatigue in Christopher's eyes.
Many of the seniors are relocated in other schools but it was determined that no matter where, they would have an HC ring and their diploma would read HC.
Over 100 of the 125 seniors of the Class of 2006 gathered together and received their rings. It was a very emotional ceremony as many of the families had lost their entire homes and belongings and the boys had not been together as a group in eight weeks.
The Headmaster, in a voice choking back tears, said that hopefully Holy Cross can be restored by May and the boys can walk under the campus gazebo to receive their diplomas.
This is just one of the thousands of stories relating to Hurricane Katrina. It was a happy day today.