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Katrina on her mind
By Joni Moths mueller
Photography by Kat Berger
STEPHANIE TREFFERT came to Marquette after spending one week at her first-choice college — Loyola University New Orleans. She was completely wrapped up in freshman orientation there when Hurricane Katrina changed everything. Treffert joined a group of students who transferred to Marquette to wait out Loyola’s recovery from the storm. |
The Gulf Region
calls to Marquette
students thanks to
Stephanie Treffert’s
freshman connection
to Loyola University. |
“My mentality was that I was a Loyola student at Marquette,” she says, remembering that first semester. The Wisconsin native had focused her entire college search on southern schools and getting away from winter weather.
Second semester she was back in New Orleans, where she planned to spend the next four years. But something happened that Treffert didn’t anticipate — she felt torn between the two universities, and she loved them both. At Marquette she was challenged by an academic program that she felt offered the best preparation for medical school. She made a tough call, packed up once more, and headed north to Marquette.
“I was nervous about that because freshman year you’re supposed to find your place; sophomore year you’re supposed to be set, have your friendships established, really know what you’re going to do,” she says. “But I came back to Marquette and forced myself to create all of that really fast here.
“Still, it felt a little like I was ditching out on New Orleans. I wanted to find a way to build a connection between the two universities and the two cities.”
Students for New Orleans
Treffert’s commitment to New Orleans was contagious. Pretty soon a group of six Marquette students joined her in founding a new student organization called MARDI GRAS, an acronym for Making a Real Difference in the Gulf Region and Areas Surrounding.
The students wanted to address the long-term problems caused by the hurricane. As an approved student organization, MARDI GRAS is eligible for financial assistance from the Marquette University Student Government. The group received a grant, and the students planned a first trip to New Orleans to see what they could do to help.
“I wanted to get people there to see what it was like,” Treffert says. “Once they saw it, I knew it would be something they couldn’t ignore. That’s exactly what happened.”
Fifteen Marquette students went to New Orleans in October. They worked with St. Gabriel’s Parish to gut three houses that were ruined by flood water.
“Three houses in four days, let me tell you, that wears you out,” Treffert says.
But when the students came back to Marquette, word got out. This was something more students wanted to be a part of. Six weeks later, during winter break, 100 Marquette students met on campus, their duffel bags packed. They divided into three groups. One group went to New Orleans to work on gutting houses, one group went to Mississippi to work on a rebuilding project, and one group went to Alabama to assist with toy and clothing drives.
“That’s exactly how we want MARDI GRAS to work,” Treffert says, “with people going wherever they can do some good in the Gulf Region. We’re not ‘voluntourists,’ we’re balancing travel with advocacy and awareness, keeping ourselves informed and working with organizations there.”
Establishing MARDI GRAS taught the founding group of students a lot about organizational leadership. They learned you cannot put students on the road without thinking about health and safety issues. They learned to budget funds and attract corporate sponsors. And Treffert learned how to bring the connectedness that she felt at Loyola back to Marquette.
“Maybe because Loyola is smaller you feel personally invited to participate in things,” Treffert says. “That’s something I wanted to bring to Marquette, to invite people to get involved not only by running ads or by chalking the sidewalk but by actually asking them. I send out an e-mail to everyone in my classes to join us. It’s a big difference.”
The group made a third trip to the Gulf Region during spring break in March. One hundred participants — the maximum allowed — signed up in just 21 days. For now, Treffert says, they are focusing on short-term projects that can be tackled in a week, such as gutting houses. Next MARDI GRAS would like to connect with students at Loyola, Tulane and Xavier to identify how they might combine forces on a project for the Gulf Region.
“Right now we have the momentum of being new and big,” Treffert says. “We want to keep it going like this while MARDI GRAS is strong.”
But building MARDI GRAS has kept Treffert busy — maybe a little too busy.
“My parents wonder why I don’t call,” she says. “I tell them, I meant to; it’s nothing personal.”
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