BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WBRC ) - In late August 2005, college students across New Orleans packed a bag, locked their dorm rooms, and left the city ahead of Hurricane Katrina. For many, it felt routine.

“This is going to be a week max,” said Mashonda Taylor, then a senior at Loyola University. “It always happens this way. It gives us some more days off before classes start.”

But what was expected to be a short break became the beginning of a life-changing chapter. For Taylor and fellow Loyola student Ranika Chaney, the storm forced them out of their community, their classrooms and everything familiar.

“What should have been a one-hour drive was about seven hours,” Chaney said. “And that’s when I first was like, what is happening here.”

She eventually enrolled at Saint Louis University, hun

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