Hurricane Helene uprooted (no pun intended) our whole program almost exactly one month ago. While I don’t want to belittle the devastating impact that this event had on numerous communities, I think it’s important to find a silver lining amongst all the destruction. I’ve been doing a lot of reflection about this event and in doing so, have found quite a few ways to look on the brighter side of things:
The one that stands out to me is that following Helene, people came together in a way I haven’t ever experienced before. Being from Boone, I have been able to see the efforts made there and here in Highlands, both of which have been inspiring, to say the least. For example, I am still seeing posts on Instagram from people back home who are organizing river clean ups, gathering supplies, asking for funding, and volunteering wherever needed. Even my grandmother who is 80 years old went out and gathered supplies to bring to people that were displaced or without easy access to food, water, etc. My dad works at the hospital in Boone and was telling me about how many people had come to volunteer there following the storm. In Highlands, stores stayed open even without power, using a calculator, pen, and paper to calculate taxes, so that people could get necessary supplies. It’s little stories like these that are the most uplifting to me.
While I never want something like Helene to happen again, it’s almost inevitable given the rate that climate change is…well…changing. As scary as this thought is, the sense of community that emerged following the storm all across Western NC (and beyond) has allowed me to find some comfort.
On a more personal level, Helene brought some changes that ended up being for the best. While HBS was on the luckier side as far as destruction, a tree did fall on our cottage dorms. Rest assured, no one was in the dorms when it fell and we are all safe! With that being said, this caused us to relocate to an actual house (Valentine) on campus. For me, this meant a bigger room (no bunkbeds was a big win) and having more accessible communal spaces which has been great for game nights, watching movies, and just being together.
In addition to changing housing, our scheduled field trip to Roan Mountain was canceled due to park closures. While this was discouraging at first, it meant that we got to take a day trip to Lake Fontana and visit the lost town of Proctor - something no other IE cohort has gotten to do! Once at the lake, we took a boat ride to what seemed like a random spot along the bank. We hopped out and started walking until we came upon this super cool old house (check out our Instagram for a tour). This house is one of the only remaining buildings of Proctor, a once busy little mountain town. We also got to go to a graveyard and what was left of a kiln building, used to dry wood.
While the new housing has been nice and I really enjoyed our trip to Fontana, the most significant silver lining of Helene for me is how much closer it brought us. There’s something kind of special about being without power or internet because it makes you really interact with the people around you. We had fun playing games, painting, and watching movies (we had power in one building until the generator died - then we got to go home for a week which was also a perk). Call it trauma bonding if you want but I think that these experiences ultimately brought our cohort, as well as the surrounding communities, closer together. There was a deep understanding of one another because we could appreciate the hardship we were all facing. While I don’t want to lose power again, I’m grateful for the experiences that Helene forced on us and my heart goes out to all of the people who are still facing losses following the storm.
-AW
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