The simple charge of "Enter to Learn; Leave to Serve" was taken to heart this past semester by 22 juniors and seniors of La Salle High School, Pasadena.

Last spring, La Salle students and four adult moderators went to New Orleans to help the city in its ongoing rebuilding process after the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The mission was part of La Salle's Ven-a-Ver (Come and See) Service Immersion program.

"Why go now?" some students were asked. "Katrina happened almost three years ago --- aren't they finished with the rescue efforts?" As students realized, the truth remains, no; more than 15 million people in the southeast U.S. were affected by Katrina, 1,836 lost their lives and more than 700 people are still missing.

In order to prepare themselves for their service in Louisiana, students and moderators (Tillie Burke, business manager; Jason Eisele, Social Studies chair; Elizabeth Serhan, assistant to the principal; and Ryan Resurreccion, Student Life Immersions coordinator) helped raise their trip expenses. They also prepared themselves by learning about the situation in which they would be working, attending evening seminar classes and discussing the issues facing the people of New Orleans. Burke, whose sister lives in the city, shared knowledge about the life and culture of New Orleans.

In New Orleans, the students' service opportunities focused on individual families. Among them: repainting a house in the Ninth Ward for future volunteers that will come later to help rebuild New Orleans; working for a woman named whose circular EcoHouse is hurricane resistant and part of the new "green" standard for New Orleans; and gutting and cleaning a house for a woman named Odele who spent three days on her roof with her dog before she was rescued by helicopter.

Odele told the students she could not deal with gutting her home and had not returned until she went with the La Salle students. Their presence, though, changed her life, she said.

"They did such a great job. I was revitalized and motivated to rebuild my home," Odele said. "I was amazed with the energy and generosity of your students. I can begin again."

"This was not the Corps of Engineers bulldozing down someone's home and telling them to go live in a FEMA trailer. These were caring individuals making a personal difference," said a local pastor. "We are very grateful and overwhelmed with their understanding of our loss."

What became obvious at the end of the trip ties into what St. John Baptist de La Salle said, "The more you abandon to God the care of all temporal things, the more He will take care to provide for all your wants."