Hurricane Katrina Brings Student to SPU

For business student Carl Lubrano, it wasn’t actually a move of convenience.

Lubrano was starting his last graduate class at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit and forced him and his family out of their home and sent them seeking a new temporary home.

Their journey progressed from the Houston airport to a rendezvous with relatives in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he began his search for a university which could supply him with the final course he needed to complete his master of business administration degree. While surfing the Web, Lubrano discovered that Seattle-area universities had not yet started their Fall Quarter. He decided to apply.

Seattle Pacific University answered his call right away. “September 7 was my first contact with Carl,” says, Debbie Wysomierski, associate graduate director of SPU’s School of Business and Economics. “By the ninth, we had worked it out that he would come.”

In spite of the distance, Lubrano got into his car, leaving his parents and grandmother in Lynchburg. “I drove 12 hours a day for four days,” he says. The drive paid off, as he soon discovered that his textbook fee would be covered by SPU. Housing was also covered — FEMA provided him with a check to cover hotel expenses.

“We now have another student ambassador,” says Wysomierski. “This is the kind of thing that can inspire others to help lend a hand in the future. That is how you make a difference — one person at a time.”