As the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, a group of Denver high school students participating in a University of Colorado at Boulder partnership with Dillard University in New Orleans has visually recorded Dillard's reconstruction by building 3-D models that are now part of Google Earth.
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, all but one building on the 55-acre Dillard University campus was flooded with 6 to 10 feet of water. The private, historically black liberal arts college was founded in 1869 and has about 2,000 students.
Three buildings burned down during Katrina and three more were demolished as part of reconstruction. Classes were moved to a nearby hotel until cleanup and repair of the $400 million in damages allowed them to return to the Dillard campus in September 2006.
In the past three years, Dillard has raised more than $280 million, renovated campus facilities and planned for construction of two new buildings to replace the six that were destroyed.
This summer, as part of the Digital CUrrents educational program, eight students from North High School and Thomas Jefferson High School used Google's SketchUp 3D modeling program to digitally model the campus buildings. The program was organized by CU's Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society Institute and the Denver Public Schools' Computer Magnet Program.
Prior to the high school students arriving on the Boulder campus, a team of CU-Boulder students and faculty traveled to New Orleans to gather digital source material for the Google Earth digital community reconstruction.
Robert Collins, an associate professor of urban studies at Dillard University, took the field research team on a tour of the Dillard University campus sites and sections of the city where there were levee breaches.
"It was an eye-opener about how events from the past three years have changed their lives," said Aaron Bach, one of the CU-Boulder students who helped with the digital documentation in New Orleans and then returned to Boulder to work with the students on the Google Earth modeling. "For me it was a great opportunity to bring awareness to a big topic."
But more than technology was in the curriculum for the three-week session. As the high school students worked on the digital modeling projects, educating them on the complex history and culture of New Orleans was an important part the educational experience, according to Collins. After learning important lessons about history, culture, leadership and urban redevelopment in post-Katrina New Orleans, the students also created 3-D renderings of the 9th Ward, imagining the reconstructive possibilities for the still demolished neighborhood.
"Their job was to develop a plan for a vibrant community people would want to come and live in," said Collins. "It was important for them to understand how the community developed and why previously they did not have access to basic services in the neighborhood such as grocery stores and pharmacies."
Dillard has been a partner institution with CU-Boulder since 2002, involving shared curriculum between the two campuses, joint programs involving students and faculty, summer research experiences and other programs. ATLAS is an institute for undergraduate and graduate programs that also advocates technology education for people and programs that traditionally do not have access to equipment and resources.
The program was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Via West, the Musk Foundation, Apple, the Denver Public School System, Dillard University and Google.
Editors' Note: Digital CUrrents students and Dillard University faculty are available to talk about their experience. Please contact Bruce Henderson or Malinda Miller-Huey for names and contact information. To access Dillard University on Google Earth:
Make sure you have Google Earth 4.3 installed.
Go to Layers (on the left panel) > 3D Buildings > Photorealistic (click on the box by Photorealistic).
Enter Dillard University in the Fly to: data entry box (left side, top).