- Hurricane Idalia left North Florida College with $2.7M in damages.
- As the one-year mark approaches, the school is looking back at the destruction.
- Watch the video to hear from the NFC community on how a recovery was possible.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This week will mark one year since Hurricane Idalia roared through the Big Bend.
I’m Kenya Cardonne in the Madison neighborhood.
I’m checking in with the Sentinel community of North Florida College as they recall the destruction here and the lessons learned.
Hurricane Idalia.
John Grosskopf, President of North Florida College - “It’s an unpleasant memory. It devastated our community and our campus.”
A storm that transformed North Florida College..
Grosskopf - “Nearly every single roof received some kind of damage and there was water infiltration in nearly every building on campus.”
..and the community within it.
Mason Plainegood, Student - “It was crazy. I came back and there’s a lot of trees all around the campus and there’s a couple big ones right out there in the center and when I came back they were just on the ground.”
The school now looking back on how it handled the chaos, nearly one year later.
Grosskopf - “Everything paused and the community was destroyed but our students’ dreams weren’t destroyed.”
President John Grosskopf tells me student success was at the forefront of their priorities. They made welfare calls and sent postcards to every student, provided academic support and hosted three food and supply distributions with Second Harvest of the Big Bend.
Plainegood - “It was amazing, quite overwhelming at times, to see the hoard of people that were so willing to give back, so selfless.”
Mason Plainegood tells me seeing the level of care for students like him made him prouder to be an NFC Sentinel.
Plainegood - “They took care of us, made me feel good, feel safe. I knew I could come here if I needed something.”
An experience he says allowed him to be confident the school would make it through Debby just months later, despite Idalia repairs still underway.
John Phillip Taylor, Professor - “Something like Idalia happens and you learn you can do things you never thought of doing before.”
Lessons they say will carry on for years to come.
Grosskopf - “Should a storm come, we’re tired, but we’re ready and I think we’re experienced now and know how to quickly respond and quickly take care of our students.”
Faculty tells me that their distribution efforts after Idalia also served to address and tackle issues that students were already facing year round such as food insecurity.
In Madison, Kenya Cardonne, ABC 27
