UNIVERSITY NEWS - NOVEMBER 2005
MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Harpaz 954-762-5244, jharpaz@fau.edu
FAU and Holy Cross Hospital Reach Out to Students Affected by Hurricane Katrina
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (December 13, 2005) - A check presentation ceremony recently brought representatives from Florida Atlantic University to Holy Cross Hospital of Fort Lauderdale. Adopting FAU's charge to provide Gulf Coast students displaced by Hurricane Katrina with higher education opportunities, Holy Cross Hospital generously pledged to help two New Orleans students, Ta'Veca Hinton and Dreama Goldsmith, temporarily enrolled at FAU, continue their studies in medical-related fields. Each student was awarded $5,000 from Holy Cross. The money will help Hinton and Goldsmith with educational and living expenses while attending FAU. There are a total of 45 students from such schools as Tulane University and Xavier University of Louisiana currently taking classes on FAU campuses. "The tradition of community outreach has guided Holy Cross Hospital for 50 years," said Mark Dissette, vice president of Physician Services for Holy Cross Hospital. "Our hospital's Donation Committee chose to support students at FAU because of our long-standing partnership with the University. By joining efforts with FAU, we can create tremendous opportunities for young people." "Anytime you invest in young people, you invest in the future," adds Sister Levasseur, vice president of Sponsorship and Mission Effectiveness for Holy Cross Hospital. "We are especially interested in these two wonderful students because they are both pursuing careers in helping professions." As a graduate student in Tulane University's School of Social Work, Ta'Veca Hinton, a native of Fort Lauderdale, is striving toward a career in mental health and hopes to one day work as a psychotherapist with children and teens. She is currently gaining valuable experience through an internship with the Intensive Delinquency Diversion Services program at Psychotherapeutic Services. Hinton will graduate this December with a master's degree in social work from Tulane University. For Dreama Goldsmith, Hurricane Katrina could have put an end to a promising future career in the pharmaceutical industry. In her second year of the six-year program at Xavier University of Louisiana's College of Pharmacy, Goldsmith is temporarily enrolled in FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and benefiting from the College's outstanding biotechnology courses and faculty. She has been told that Xavier will be ready to resume classes in January and though eager to return to New Orleans, a place she has called home for most of her life, she will miss the relaxed pace of Boca Raton. Goldsmith hopes to one day design life-saving drugs and has a special interest in pharmacology for pediatric oncology patients. Without FAU, Goldsmith's intensive course of study would have been put on hold for at least four valuable months. Additional efforts, led by faculty, staff and students to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina were widespread on FAU campuses. Both fund-raising and emergency supply drives were conducted. The Sallie Mae Fund matched Hurricane Katrina relief contributions of $25 or more made by FAU employees to the American Red Cross. This greatly leveraged the value of donations made to FAU's "Dollar Drive" and "Beads for the Bayou" campaigns. Other fund-raising initiatives included an emergency supplies campaign for canned goods, first aid kits, baby care items, children's vitamins and personal hygiene products, as well as a Yogathon meditation fund-raiser.
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