Stephen Kreller wasn’t expecting his first year of middle school to get a rocky start. A storm was coming his way and he had to prepare for the unexpected.

He was just a sixth grader. He never thought he would have to endure a sudden tragedy, but in the end he discovered what he was created to do.

Ten years ago when the devastating Hurricane Katrina plagued New Orleans, Stephen Kreller had to grab what he could and leave the city.

When Kreller’s family heard that a hurricane was moving in their direction, they left the city immediately.

“We stayed at a hotel, just planning to stay for a couple days because we didn’t expect it to be that bad,” Kreller said.

But it was. When Kreller’s family realized they would not be returning home anytime soon, they went to Arlington, Texas where Kreller temporarily enrolled in school.

The sudden shift was not easy for Kreller. Like many other families who lost everything after the storm, his family had to start from scratch.

“We left the house with only two changes of clothes and had to rebuy everything,” Kreller said.

Kreller said adjusting to the sudden shift wasn’t easy, but as he continued to look back on it each year, he found that the storm  stirred up a passion inside of him.

“Katrina has been a huge influence on me and has strenghtened my drive to work with hurricanes and try to research them to understand what causes certain aspects more and more,” Kreller said.

Kreller was reinspired all over again after looking at the exhibit on display in Walker Hall last week.

Bette Kauffman, associate professor of communications, created it in honor of the tenth anniversary of Katrina. But she also wanted to reveal something in the process.

The pictures on the wall highlighted the waterline damage that was caused by the storm.

Kauffman said she remembers when the storm hit New Orleans and that there was hardly any news coverage of the waterline damage after the storm.

“I thought to myself, no one is telling the story,” Kauffman said. “And that’s how it came about.”

Kauffman also had a more personal account of the storm.

She spent the tenth annivarsary of Katrina helping her son move into his apartment in Baton Rouge.

“It was ten years ago today that he came to my house and stayed,” Kauffman said. “His mother made me his guardian and he stayed with me and finished high school.

Kauffman said her son wasn’t hanging with the “right crowd” before he moved in with her and that he turned his life around after enrolling in school here in Monroe.

She said that though the Katrina storm was a devastating event for most, a lot of good came as a result.

“It produced moments of grace,” said Kauffman. “It allowed people to be exposed to other surroundings and gave them the opportunity to their life around.”

Kauffman said that Katrina allowed her to “gain the relationship” she now has with her son and that it gave her the chance to be a blessing to someone in need.

She said whether someone was directly affected by Katrina or not, there’s one thing to keep in mind.

“It’s important to teach people about Katrina and what happened,” said Kauffman. “We all may not be able to relate to it, but it’s just as important to keep its memory alive.”