Two graduating University of Southern Mississippi seniors, members of the “Katrina Class,” will accept their diplomas this weekend having passed tests for which no review or study session could have ever prepared them. 

The day Beverly Ferguson and Apryl Jackson were supposed to start class in the 2005 fall semester, Hurricane Katrina made landfall with powerful winds and a storm surge that killed nearly 2,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more, washing away homes, businesses, schools and churches along the Gulf Coast. 

A psychology major, Ferguson was returning to college after having been out of school for several years. Not wanting the credit hours she earned in the past to go to waste, she left her job in New Orleans and enrolled at Southern Miss Gulf Coast. 

She evacuated to Birmingham, Ala., with her family to escape the storm, but because communication with the affected coastal areas was next to impossible, she had no way of knowing the condition of her home in Pearlington. The only way to find out for sure was to return to see it firsthand. 

When she arrived back in Pearlington, she was left reeling by the scene that greeted her. A storm surge estimated to be as high as 30 feet had pushed through her community, leaving her home and those of most of her neighbors a putrid mess. 

“When I first saw it, I didn’t know what I was going to do, it was just so overwhelming. There was mud and fish all in my house,” she said. “Everything in the yard was dead - the grass, the trees. There weren’t even any birds. 

She withdrew from school a few days later, but re-enrolled for the spring 2006 semester.

A single mother of four, Ferguson put school back on her already crowded schedule with the responsibilities of a family and a home rebuilding project made more difficult by a commute from a temporary residence in Slidell. 

Along with a close friend, Ferguson worked most days from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., rebuilding along with the help of volunteers. Exhausted, she would press on in the evenings to study for her classes. 

Sometime in February 2006, Ferguson began having serious doubts about whether or not to keep rebuilding her home. The daily grind was taking its toll, and she turned to a higher source for divine guidance. She prayed for a sign.

 “One morning I pulled up in the driveway of the house, and all of a sudden I noticed this camellia tree that I never really paid much attention to before covered with beautiful reddish-pink blooms,” she said.  “I thought ‘Okay, God, I know what you want me to do.’

“It was a challenge. I didn’t have much insurance money, so I couldn’t have done it without all the volunteers who came here from all over the country, many of whom gave up their vacations to come help people after the storm,” she said. “I think someone from every state in the union came to help me with my house.”

Faith, discipline and a deep-seated need to finish what she started years ago drove Ferguson through the difficult times, she said.  “I just had an overwhelming desire to overcome the obstacles and be a role model for my children,” she said. “And I had a faith that things would get better, and they did.”

“Be a blessing to someone else”

A public relations major at Southern Miss, Jackson had already gotten settled into life at the university in Hattiesburg. A clarinetist with the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band, she had been on campus for a couple of weeks for band camp and was looking forward to her first day of class.

On the Friday before the first day of school, the phone rang in her Roberts Hall room. On the line was a friend informing her that Hurricane Katrina had suddenly changed course and was veering in a northwesterly path toward her hometown and the Mississippi Coast.  “You know they’re closing the roads to Mobile,” her friend said.

Jackson’s mother told her daughter to come home, reassuring her that she would probably be able to return to school shortly after the storm. But it would be a month before Jackson could return to the classroom at Southern Miss.

‘When I woke up (the morning of the storm) it was dark, and felt like I was in some kind of scary movie,” she said.

Katrina caused external damage to her parent’s home and cars and surrounded the residence with debris, which Jackson helped remove to allow her family to exit the house. To make matters worse, the intense heat following the storm aggravated her asthma and a skin condition.

But with her father in Washington, D.C., for work and unable to return immediately, Jackson knew her family needed her in the early days after the storm.  

 “I had to step up and help my mom, brother and my grandmother who had come to stay with us,” Jackson said.  “I helped get supplies and focused on enduring the gas lines to get fuel and waiting in line to get ice. It taught me to stay calm in the midst of turmoil.” 

Once her family got back on its feet, Jackson began to learn about how much more severely Katrina had impacted Gulf Coast residents further west like Ferguson. She took to heart the words of her father: “We were blessed, so let’s bless someone else.” 

She went out and helped neighbors, especially the elderly, by cleaning up their yards or bringing them food, water, ice or other supplies. “Sometimes, they just wanted someone to talk to,” she said.

After Southern Miss reopened in mid-September to resume the fall semester, Jackson brought her volunteer spirit with her to campus. She joined fellow Roberts Hall residents in going out into the Hattiesburg community to bring supplies to elderly residents who needed assistance. 

During her time at Southern Miss, Jackson has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity to help prepare home sites for Katrina evacuees, mentored young at-risk youth through Big Brothers, Big Sisters and worked with Hattiesburg’s Christian Services to provide food, clothing and other services to the homeless and less fortunate. 

“I felt like the world took a pause after Katrina to allow us to focus on the positive, what was left,” she said. “It also taught me how to live with just what I needed and not feel like I was missing anything.”

At Southern Miss, Jackson has been a Leadership Scholar and active in a variety of campus organizations, including the Student Government Association and the African American Student Organization. She has worked in a variety of roles with the Department of Residence Life, including as a head resident, resident assistant and desk assistant. 

Jackson plans to enter graduate school in the fall to pursue a master’s degree in college personnel counseling.

“Whatever trials and tribulations Apryl encountered because of what she went through during Katrina, it has not diminished her efforts in school,” said Leyla Goodsell, visiting professor of practice in the Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism. 

“She tries to find the positive in everything, which is very refreshing, and she’s done a good job of setting goals for herself for where she wants to go and how she wants to get there.”

"Apryl and Beverly not only prevailed in earning their degrees through the challenges of Katrina; they triumphed. Apryl turned her energy to leading and helping others, and Beverly refused to quit despite juggling a full schedule of school, family and rebuilding her home,” said Southern Miss Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joe Paul.

“Their stories are emblematic of the many students graduating this semester that we will remember fondly. What bravery and perseverance they have shown."

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Beverly Ferguson takes a break from cleaning up the yard of her Pearlington home after Hurricane Katrina devastated her community with Category 3 winds and a storm surge with waves estimated to be nearly 30 feet high. Ferguson managed to finish school while also raising a family, rebuilding her home and commuting from a temporary residence in Slidell, La. She will graduate this Saturday from the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, a member of the university’s “Katrina Class.” (Submitted photo)

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