Local elementary ELA class publishes book about their experiences with Hurricane Ida

Ms. Pam Pellegrin’s ELA students at High Achievers Student Enrichment Center in Houma are officially published authors! The group of four through eleven-year-olds recently wrote and illustrated stories about their experiences during Hurricane Ida, and put them all together to create “Hurricane Ida: Through the Eyes of a Child.”

Pellegrin has been teaching multiple subjects and grade levels for 35 years, before opening the High Achievers Student Enrichment Center. “We were closed for about a month following Hurricane Ida, which was a really tragic storm,” said Pellegrin. “I knew the kids needed to focus on processing their experiences, so that’s when I first had them write down their stories. Seeing what they wrote gave me the idea to put their writings together–I went through Hurricane Betsy when I was four-years-old, and I wish I had something that I could look back on to remember such a life changing event. We do a big ELA project every year, and so this year, we revisited our Ida stories to turn them into a book.” The students wrote down all their experiences, brought in pictures, and drew illustrations, all while processing the events as a class through daily discussions. Pellegrin then contacted Studentreasures Publishing, a publishing house which helps turn student works into real books, and went forward from there.

Pellegrin discussed how another big inspiration for this project was Ms. Lillie Brunet, Outreach Coordinator at the Terrebonne Parish Public Library System, and her work creating storm story booklets after major storms to help local children process traumatic events. “Ms. Lillie is a familiar face in our class and often comes in for story time with the children, so the students were very excited to surprise her with their own ‘storm stories’ book they had created. They read it to her for the first time and tears came to my eyes,” said Pellegrin. “It was so touching to see. The kids were just so excited and so proud to share their stories– I know that is the most important thing to come from this project. These students get to share their sadness, their hope, and their experiences with each other.”

Pellegrin says that what surprised her most about the project was the overwhelming positivity in these stories, despite the fact that they were about such a sad event. “I was so overcome by the joy that came through in their passages,” said Pellegrin. “Even though they went through so much at such a young age, they all had something positive to say at the end. One student talked about the excitement of going to church to help hand out food to those in need. They all talked about how the experience brought their communities closer together.”

“Hurricane Ida: Through The Eyes of a Child” will be available as a part of the Terrebonne Parish Public Library catalog very soon– make sure to visit the library to read the stories first-hand. If you would like to order a personal copy, please visit the Studentreasures orders page and use the PIN 8254033. Congratulations to Ms. Pellegrin and her young students for sharing their stories with the world!