Students relocated to Nicholls State when their schools in New Orleans and its surrounding areas closed down due to damage and electricity outages caused by the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster.Elaine Quinilty is a graduate student in education from the University of New Orleans. Quinilty graduated from UNO in May of 2005 and had gone back for her teaching certificate. Because of the storm, New Orleans and its surrounding areas were forced to evacuate, and UNO remains closed until further notice due to power outages.

Quinilty left her New Orleans apartment prior to the mandatory evacuation, but she didn’t take much with her. She took some clothes and the things she needed to study for the PRAXIS exam. Her apartment was damaged in the storm, and she lost everything in it.

Quinilty is now at Nicholls. “I think I’m adjusting pretty well. I live at home in Houma so I didn’t have to worry about trying to find a place. I like my classes,” Quinilty said.

Quinilty only plans on attending Nicholls for this semester.

“I’m not sure where I’m going to go, but I’m not going back to New Orleans,” Quinilty said.

Justin Bertoniere is a freshman in pre-medicine from Tulane University in New Orleans. He was from New Orleans and is currently living with grandparents close to Nicholls.

Bertoniere plans on staying at Nicholls until Tulane University reopens sometime in the 2006 spring semester. Bertoniere and his family evacuated from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. They then moved on to Lafayette.

When he left, Bertoniere took his important documents, packed them into his car and left-losing everything else that was left in his New Orleans apartment. “Its no biggy,” Bertoniere said. “It can all be replaced.