Lance sisters enjoying Southern hospitality
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Many of these families have children who have lost not only their homes, but their schools to Katrina’s fury. Local schools have stepped forward to enroll these students who need to continue their education until they can return home.
Among these students are sisters Katelyn and Jessica Lance, the daughters of Mark and Tina Lance, who were forced out of their home in St. Bernard Parish, about four miles from New Orleans, when the entire area was left underwater. Both girls’ schools were destroyed, as was the Chalmette Church of Christ where their father was minister.
In St. Bernard Parish, Jessica attended Andrew Jackson High School, and Katelyn attended N.P. Trist Middle School, both of which will have to be rebuilt.
The sisters are now attending Boyd Christian School, Katelyn as an eighth-grader and Jessica as a 10th-grader. Boyd president C.M. Womack heard about the girls and offered to enroll them in the private school at no charge.
Boyd principal Eva Ferrell says the school is glad to be able to offer a place for Jessica and Katelyn to continue their schooling on an interim basis.
“We are delighted to have the girls as new students at Boyd Christian,” Ferrell said. “Having them join our student body has helped us better understand the tragedy along the Gulf Coast, and hopefully become more compassionate toward the terrible ordeal these victims have suffered.”
The sisters are currently in their second week at the school, and say the integration into the student body has been a smooth process.
“It’s been good,” Jessica said. “It’s a lot smaller, so it’s kind of different.”
Though they miss their friends back in St. Bernard Parish, both girls say they have been making friends here.
“It’s been easy,” Katelyn said.
“Yes, it’s been really easy,” Jessica agreed. “I made friends with Jenna Davis, and actually she turned out to be my cousin. So it’s kind of different just figuring that all out.”
The girls moved to the New Orleans area when they were small, so the move back has been quite a change.
“It’s a lot slower paced than New Orleans,” Jessica said. “New Orleans is more of a city, like, and this is a farm community.”
“We had Mardi Gras and stuff like that,” Katelyn chimed in.
The Lances are lucky because they have family here and are Warren County natives. The family lived with Mark’s mother, Mary Jo, at first, but are now living in a home provided by Richard and Brenda Bost, the mother- and father-in-law of Boyd Christian kindergarten teacher Kristi Bost.
The girls say having a built-in support group has been a real comfort.
“We’ve had a lot of calls the past two week,” Jessica said. “Everyone’s is calling to just check on us and see if we’re OK.”
Still, even though they have been fitting right in, the girls say the family plans to move back to St. Bernard Parish as soon as they can.
“We’re going to be rebuilding and everything,” Jessica said. “My dad, I think they said something about January being when we can finally go back into St. Bernard, and he’s going to go back to where he worked, the community college, and help rebuild that, and the church. We’re going to be building a new house over there.”
But both girls say they will never forget the kindness they received from the people of Warren County.
“I’d just really like to say thank you,” Jessica said. “Everybody has helped out, like East End Church of Christ, we’ve been going there and they actually had a shower for us Sunday night and they gave us just a tremendous amount of stuff.
“Thank you is just really not enough,” she added.
PHOTO INFO:
Katelyn and Jessica Lance, whose schools in St. Bernard Parish, La., were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, are now attending Boyd Christian School free of charge until they can return to the New Orleans area. Pictured are, front row, from left, Kateylyn, teacher Suzanne Reed, and Jessica. Back row, Becca Reynolds, Matt Nowalk, Austin Young, Monica Patel and Lucas Majors. (Charles W. Johnson photo)