For Katrina Evacuee, a Blessing in Education

I was in a hotel room in Florida with my boyfriend, Corey, and his family when my mother called to tell me we didn't have a home anymore. The roof had blown off and landed on a neighbor's car. I was numb.

At first, I didn't think my situation was going to be too bad. We would find another apartment in no time, and I would be back in school. But my stay in Washington would last seven months.

Within five days of the call from my mother, I was on a flight, headed to the nation's capital, to stay with my Aunt Sallie. When I got into Reagan National Airport, my uncle asked me how many bags I had checked. I held up my small duffel.

"This is it," I said.

My first day at Duke Ellington School of the Arts was a blur. Everyone was always in a hurry. By the time I got to my first arts class, I was relieved to hear there was a departmental meeting. All the theater students huddled in Room 117 to find we were auditioning for a public service announcement showing the link between HIV and drug abuse. So, using the same dramatic monologue I had used to get into Duke Ellington, I tried my luck. Apparently, I did well, because a month later I was filming along with Zaibaa Mahdi, another Duke Ellington student.

Normally, I am outgoing and very social, but I just wanted to be alone. Every day I would climb inside my tall locker and eat lunch alone. I avoided contact with people outside of school. When I went back to my home just outside New Orleans for a visit, I spent time with my old friends and remembered how much fun it was to just let go and be myself. By the end of the year, I was done saying "Why me?" and decided to live my life instead of hiding from it.

When I got back to Duke Ellington after the holiday break, I made friends. I made real, genuine friends. Things really began to brighten up. The improv team I had joined started winning. We were good. We were really good! We started winning competitions. I even got "best actress" at one of them. We were on top of the world.

The head of the theater department, Ken Johnson, then announced that our main stage production that year would be "The Laramie Project." It's a play that tells how the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, affected the town of Laramie. I cannot begin to describe how much that show impacted the lives of everyone involved. We learned to acknowledge our biases and teach true acceptance rather than just tolerance.

That show and the characters I was blessed to play are easily the highlights of my life. Duke Ellington was nominated for "best show" and several other awards in the Cappies, a Tony Awards-style recognition program for high school theater. I was nominated for "best leading actress" and was privileged to represent our cast with a monologue that I performed during the awards ceremony at the Kennedy Center in front of 2,400 people.

When I got to Duke Ellington last September, I thought my life was over, but I realize now it had just begun. I made some of the best friends I will ever have. The most amazing teachers instilled in me a passion for learning that I had never known and filled me with a new love: acting.

I learned about new cultures and religions. And I grew closer to my family. I really hadn't appreciated them before. Everything now has value. After I had lost everything, God gave me a life I had never expected. I feel truly blessed.

Rebecca Hollingsworth, 18, returned to the New Orleans area in April and graduated with her senior class at East Jefferson High School. She attends Loyola University in New Orleans.