Southern Miss Students Visit U.S. Capital for 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit

LONG BEACH, Miss. – University of Southern Mississippi Center for Policy and Resilience student representatives Jennifer Crosslin, Zach Mellen, and Daniel D. Guice III attended the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit: “Remembrance, Renewal, Resilience” in Washington, D.C., in September.

The summit, commemorating the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, showcased a series of seven short-form documentary films designed to illustrate the event themes of remembrance, renewal, and resilience. Among the films featured was the story of a resilient Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

Each film concluded with a question-and-answer session featuring the individuals presented in the film. The panel for the film “Gulf Coast Resilience” included Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Gulfport Mayor George Schloegel, Bay St. Louis artist Kat Fitzpatrick, HOPE Community Development Agency Executive Director Bill Stallworth, Interfaith Disaster Task Force Executive Director Alice Graham, and Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CARRI) Director Warren Edwards.

“This conference was a wonderful experience for us,” said Crosslin, Southern Miss Gulf Coast Student Government Association president. “The 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit was inspiring and reminded me of the strength, compassion, and resilience of the human spirit. After returning home, I had a renewed sense of pride for our country and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

Over the past three years, the Southern Miss Center for Policy and Resilience, along with Mississippi Gulf Coast community leaders, have worked with CARRI by researching and developing a framework of practical applications for preventing, responding, and recovering from disasters. This research has led to a web-based program designed to help communities become more resilient. The Mississippi Gulf Coast has been chosen as one of the pilot communities for this program.

The Southern Miss Center for Policy and Resiliencefacilitates research and interdisciplinary exchanges between Southern Miss faculty and students, as well as policy makers at the community and regional level and both non-governmental and private volunteer organizations. It serves as a clearinghouse for grants and external funding related to policy and resilience studies for Southern Miss Gulf Coast operations and as a catalyst for community outreach and education programs.

For more information about the Southern Miss Center for Policy and Resilience, visit www.usm.edu/gc/cpr.