Hurricane Maria

Higher Ed: Learning From A Disrupted School Year

Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast on Aug. 25, 2017. Schools along the coast and in Houston were closed for weeks. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, it was the strongest storm to make landfall there in over 80 years. Natural disasters cause devastating physical damage and disrupt life’s normal routines. In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss how students, teachers, and schools can rebound when their school year is disrupted. Sometimes that disruption happens on a wide scale, such as a natural disaster. Sometimes a student’s or teacher’s school year is shaken by an illness or death in the family. Ed and Jennifer discuss how disruptions large and small can impact a school year; how the people who are impacted can cope; and what everyone involved can learn from the experience. You’ll also get the solution to last episode’s puzzler about moving across a checkerboard.

This episode was recorded Sept. 22, 2017