In the Spotlight

Crescent City Survivor

She’s a communications major now, but it was partly lack of communication during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath that set Crescent Green on her path from New Orleans to CSUSB. Green lost track of her mother and brothers. She and three friends survived on food from a pre-storm barbecue for several days before navigating closed roads to her sister’s house in Baton Rouge, La. To escape empty markets and theft, she came to California, at least until her godmother was evicted and moved to Detroit. Judy White, deputy superintendent of San Bernardino City Schools, was at Arroyo Valley High School while Green discussed her plight with a teaching adviser. White took Green in. Green located her mother and three of her brothers, connecting her once again to the city that inspired her name. She has stayed afloat with scholarships and financial aid. Another thing that stayed afloat, so to speak, was a Rubbermaid tub of her possessions from New Orleans. This included a collection of notebooks with her original writings. As a writer and poet, these works are a precious part of her goal to uplift her culture, her race and people as a whole. She hopes to become a motivational speaker one day.