October 13, 2005
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.—The Amherst College community will help rebuild the heavily damaged D'Iberville Middle School in Gulfport, Miss. Left under eight feet of water in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, D'Iberville was one of the most devastated schools in the Harrison County School District. Most D'Iberville students lost their homes, and a group of Amherst College students, with the support of the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs, the Office of the Dean of Students and faculty, selected the middle school through an adopt-a-school program at the Mississippi School Boards Association. "We all wanted to do something meaningful and immediate for the hurricane victims,'' said Emily Silberstein, a junior at Amherst and one of the organizers, "and adopting a school seemed like a way to focus on education, something everyone at Amherst cares about."
Amherst students are working to support the school in a variety of ways, from soliciting financial donations to holding half-time raffles during Homecoming and Family Weekend football games. Students are engaged in a wide variety of fundraising tactics, from a Louisiana Banquet to sales of work by Five College artists. Amherst students are encouraged to do anything to help-from giving up a day of meals in the dining hall to paying to have their picture taken with the Amherst mascot, Lord Jeff.
The D'Iberville relief effort has a Website.
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