Hurricane Katrina taught me many important life lessons. I was only a sophomore in high school on the Cabrini cross country team. I was young and unconcerned with the news or weather. I was more concerned with what I was going to do on a Friday night and who I was going to go out with. I had no idea that the fate of the entire southern coast was about to be altered for the rest of our lives. Once we evacuated and the days following after the storm hit land is when I realized that we would not be going back home as soon as I would have liked. One of the major life lessons I learned from Katrina was that people can surprise you. As we were stranded away from our home we encountered many people willing to extend friendship and even there own homes to us strangers. This was truly amazing to me that when people heard where we were from how they were willing to open there hearts to us. I also learned that working together makes everything easier and that families will always stick by your side no matter how tough the road many get. Finally I learned first hand that what doesn\'t kill you truly makes you stronger. This is exactly what happened in New Orleans. Katrina did not kill the hope or faith of the people living there. It just made them much stronger for things to come down the road. Now, New Orleans is fighting back to become a bigger and better city than before! (by: Mary Duplantis)