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Media Contact:
Ron Harris
Director of Communications
Office of University
Communications
202.683.0182
rjharris@howard.edu
www.howard.edu/newsroom |
From Building Schools in Mali to Rebuilding Lives in New Orleans |
By
Bianca Garwood
Howard University News
Service
WASHINGTON
(New Orleans) – Even
when Howard University
junior Natasha Graves
was a student at Harriton
High School in Rosemont,
Pa., serving others
was important to her.
So,
while in high school,
she worked with seniors
at Rosemont Manor visiting
patients and creating
birthday cards for those
without any family
as a member of buildOn,
a service program for
American high school
students that works
on education and building
programs around the
world.
“In
my junior year, I had
the opportunity to go
to Mali (Africa) for
two weeks with buildOn
and build a school in
a rural village,”
said Graves, a cheerleader
and member of the National
Honor Society in high
school. “It
was one of the best
experiences of my life.”
Now
Graves, 20, whose mother
is heavily involved
in charitable work in
Rosemont, is taking
on an even bigger task.
She is leading more
than 50 students on
a week-long service
project in New Orleans,
a city still recovering
from Hurricane Katrina.
It
is part of her University’s
student-run, student-financed
Alternative Spring Break
program.
Each year, more than
300 students from Howard
travel to cities across
the United States, this
year to New Orleans,
Atlanta, Chicago,
Detroit
and Washington to help
underserved communities.
Students will
also be working this
year for the first time
in Haiti, which is still
reeling from the 2010
earthquake that killed
scores and left tens
of thousands homeless.
While their classmates
and other college students
are frolicking on the
beach or having a ball
at one of the nation’s
famous spring break
party spots, Graves
and fellow students
will be renovating homes,
tutoring students and
working on environmental
reclamation projects
throughout New Orleans
during their March spring
break. As the
New Orleans site coordinator,
Graves, a Community
Health Education major,
had to arrange bus transportation
from Washington to New
Orleans and around the
city. Her job
also included providing
three meals a day for
the students and housing.
It’s hard work,
but Graves said she
is looking forward to
the challenge.
“One of the reasons
I chose to take on this
position was because
I am passionate about
service,” she
said. “New
Orleans still needs
help rebuilding. The
effects of the hurricane
are still present. To
me, it is unbelievable
that after this amount
of time, the results
of destruction and displacement,
still ravages this area.”
“I want to be
able to make a difference
in the lives of
not only the people
I am serving, but the
participants themselves,”
said Graves.
Graves said she picked
up the tradition of
service by watching
her mother, Rita McCormick.
“My mother has
definitely influenced
my objective to serve
through her service
in Girl Scouts and through
Parents Advisory Network/Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit
at the Main Line Hospitals,”
Graves said.
“Currently, my
mom is helping to plan
the 15th Annual Golf
Outing Silent Auction
and Dinner, benefitting
the Neonatal Intensive
Care Units of the Main
Line Hospitals in Bryn
Mawr, Lankenau and Paoli.
The money will be used
to benefit critically
ill babies, she said.
This is Graves’
third year participating
in ASB. She spent
her spring break as
a freshman at Howard
tutoring children in
Washington.
“I was placed
in a third grade classroom
in Southeast D.C., both
teaching and mentoring
in the classrooms,”
Graves. “In
the elementary school,
many of the students
were behind in their
education; some of them
not being literate.”
The following year,
she worked in Chicago,
lobbying for a ban on
assault weapons and
talking with students
at various schools about
gun
violence.
“I was able to
mentor students and
teach them about the
importance of advocating
against violence,”
she said. “I was
touched by the stories
of parents, such as
Ronald Holt, who lost
a child due to gun violence.
It truly saddened me
to see the despair and
anguish that these
communities face.”
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