Seven students displaced from Puerto Rican colleges have quickly settled in to life at the University, where they are enrolled for a 鈥済uest semester.鈥�
Syanis Vargas-Gonzalez landed a role in the musical Spring Awakening and is taking voice lessons at the
Mariana Ortiz and Adriana Santiago are playing club volleyball. Claudine Daneri has joined the Medallion Leadership Society and the .
And Brian Basu belongs to , , , , and . He鈥檚 also in the running to oversee this spring鈥檚 Students鈥� Association elections.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege being here and being involved,鈥� Basu says. 鈥淚 love everything about this school.鈥�
An 鈥榚asy decision鈥� to welcome students
The students are all in their first or second year of college, and all are Puerto Rican natives except for Daneri, who was born in the Dominican Republic. All seven are taking classes at Rochester while their colleges in Puerto Rico were damaged or closed following the devastation left by Hurricane Maria last fall.
Joe Latimer, assistant dean for enrollment diversity and outreach, says the guest semester is a way for the University to help the students to keep their academic programs on track.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e all top quality students who applied for the guest semester and were chosen by Admissions on merit,鈥� says Latimer, who reviewed the applications. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e here because they deserve to be.鈥�
The students are: Ortiz (pre-law), Basu (political science), Gonzalez (music), Santiago (biology), Daneri (economics), Andrea Rosado-Quinones (biology), and Joshua Rosario (psychology). They arrived in mid-January, and are staying in residence halls on campus. All credit hours they earn this semester will be transferrable to their regular colleges.
Dawn Bruner, Rochester鈥檚 director of Parent and Family Relations, is their advisor and meets regularly with them to answer any answer any questions. She helped plan their class schedule to match their majors back home.
Latimer says several departments across the University worked together, and University alumni raised money for living expenses such as books, supplies, and meal plans.
Jeffrey Runner, dean of the College, says it was 鈥渁n easy decision鈥� to offer the guest program.
鈥淲hen Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans (in 2006), Rochester opened its doors to Tulane students to give them an opportunity to come here,鈥� Runner says. 鈥淲e wanted to do the same for the Puerto Rican students, at a time when there was so much damage from the hurricane. Our students were galvanized and wanted to help, too.鈥�
The students from Puerto Rico tell harrowing stories of when Maria, a Category 4 hurricane, crippled the island in September, leaving hundreds dead and more than a million homes without power. Ortiz and Santiago, San Juan natives and friends since childhood, were students at Universidad del Sagrado Corazon at the time.
鈥淎fter the hurricane, we were taking classes in tents outside in the heat, with mosquitos biting, and studying by flashlight at night,鈥� Ortiz says. 鈥淚t was terrible.鈥�
The students talk of 鈥渉urricane-proof鈥� windows exploding, houses without roofs, mudslides, trees splitting and shedding all their leaves, and people running out of gas while waiting hours in line to refill their tanks.
The University鈥檚 offer was a chance to escape鈥攁nd continue.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a breathtaking campus and a challenging school,鈥� Ortiz says. 鈥淚 know I鈥檓 going to leave even more prepared for what鈥檚 to come.鈥�
Feeling right at home
Gonzalez, like Basu a student at Universidad de Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, is thrilled to be taking voice lessons at Eastman after passing her audition.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the best music schools in the country,鈥� the mezzo soprano says. 鈥淭his is an amazing opportunity that could open doors for me.鈥�
The first-year student has joined a gaming/computer club and a linguistics club.
Some of their experiences at Rochester are entirely new. Three students, for example, had never seen snow before.
鈥淚 love it,鈥� Rosado-Quinones says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like powdered sugar.鈥�
The effects of Hurricane Maria won鈥檛 soon be forgotten by these students. Neither will their time at Rochester.
鈥淪ince Day 1, the University staff has been attentive and helped me settle in perfectly fine,鈥� Daneri says. 鈥淎nd the people I鈥檝e met from around the world are awesome. It鈥檚 definitely something I鈥檒l always remember.鈥�
