Hurricane victims enroll at MTSU

Nearly 50 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina have registered and enrolled at MTSU, according to an official with the school’s Office of Enrollment Services.

“Our listing shows 47 students registered at MTSU as a result of Katrina,” said Sherian Huddleston, assistant vice provost for enrollment services.

Huddleston said the students range in age from 18 to 41. There are 25 females and 22 males. One of the 47 students is a graduate student and two are international students.

The list had grown to 49, but two were forced to withdraw.

The states or countries represented include: Louisiana, U.S. Virgin Islands, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Indiana, North Carolina, California, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Pakistan and Japan.

The institutions include: University of New Orleans, Loyola, Tulane, Xavier, Dillard, William Carey College, University of Southern Mississippi, Jefferson Davis Community College, Delgado Community College, Southeast Louisiana University and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

The 41-year-old student is Nizha Whitecotten of Metarie, La. Whitecotten, a native of Morocco, is student-teaching mathematics at Blackman High School. Whitecotten and her husband are the parents of two children enrolled at one of Murfreesboro’s city schools.

Daniel Pastrana, a senior from New Orleans and the University of New Orleans, said he plans to graduate from MTSU in December. His major is university studies. He is living with a cousin, Gabriel Pastrana, in Smyrna.

Huddleston said the Gulf Coast-area students, who have been enrolling at MTSU since Sept. 2, were all informed they are required to make up the work they had missed. MTSU fall semester classes began Aug. 29 – the day Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast region.