In south Louisiana, we spend our summers fishing, boating and maybe even hunting, working hard to catch that one last fish before school starts each fall. The summer of 2005 was no different but the fall of that year was unlike any other most of my friends and I had ever experienced before. Three weeks after school started, Hurricane Katrina struck.  And that was just one in a series of events that would forever change my life. Riding out the storm in the safety of our church, it was, for me anyway, kind of boring; just a lot of wind and rain. But that evening, my grandmother was hospitalized. It was on that first trip out when we realized that the other side of town, the side we lived in, was in ruins. Returning to a flooded home, we began cleaning up straight away, but the renovations would have to wait until after my grandmother’s funeral. Fortunately my school was one of the first to reopen after the storm so my friends and I could return to our routine and structure. While our parents took care of getting our home back together again, we focused on long division. The classroom had always been where I excelled. Now it was my safe haven. I ended the year with perfect attendance and academic high honors. And a plane ticket to Oklahoma City for my father’s funeral. With no more family ties to Louisiana and many of our friends and neighbors already gone, my mom decided we would also relocate elsewhere. Where exactly wasn’t all that important as long as it was higher ground. But by then the real estate market had tanked. Even rebuilt homes weren’t selling and by fall of 2006 when I hadn’t preregistered at my private school, at the last minute, I registered at the public school down the street. It would have to do for now. It was only temporary after all. The house would sell at some point we would be on our way to greener and higher pastures. One week into the new school, my teacher recommended me for the Gifted Program so I was off to yet another school that had a gifted program. Then Mensa – the high IQ society - invited me to join as well as the Duke University Talent Identification Program. After almost a year, my mom just took down the ragged For Sale sign in our front yard. After the storm, a lot of the doctors in our area left and there weren’t enough left to go around. A lot of people were having problems coping with the situation so we just got really creative coming up ways to handle things. My school principal knew that I had done local plays before the storm and she recommended that I get back into acting to get my mind off the sad stuff. So my mom and I started looking around and she made some calls and in about a month or so I had an agent. I started going on auditions, taking acting lessons, piano, guitar & drum lessons, did some stage productions and a few commercials. I auditioned for and got the role of Jim in a short film, titled “Gauge” directed by Banks Griffin, a New Orleans native now based in New York. While I was visiting my grandparents in Texas, I met with some talent agents and they liked my resume but they wanted me to move to California, like, yesterday. Which was cool with me but there was just one problem; our house still hadn’t sold and it wasn’t going to any time soon. We were sort of in limbo when we found out that “Gauge” had been accepted into the New York film festival. That was pretty exciting news! When sixth grade started, it was like déjà vu all over again weather wise and we were once again packing up and evacuating from yet another hurricane – this time Gustav. We joked about evacuating to New York to enjoy the film festival but we went to my cousin’s house in Jackson, MS instead. Luckily, this time, the storm turned and my hometown was spared. It’s been four years now since Katrina. We’re still in Louisiana and I’m still doing what I do. Working hard in school (I was just accepted into the 7th grade Duke University TIP program) and I’m still acting. I’m in the Talented Theatre program at my school and earlier this year, I signed with a talent manager in New York. This past summer, I did a series of educational videos for the "healthypeoplenow!" campaign, dealing with teen issues and a small film with an awesome director. I’ve even taken up tennis and I’m still playing drums in the school band. In spite of everything that I’ve been through these past four years, life is good! I still miss my dad and my grandmother and my old friends who moved away but I’ve  learned a lot about myself and grown a lot. I just started junior high and I’ve made a lot of really cool new friends. I learned to face adversity head-on and role with the punches. My mom taught me to try out lots of different things because you never know where you’ll find your passion. I’ve also learned to work hard but work smart and to always be open to new opportunities. One of my mom’s favorite sayings is “Bloom where you’re planted”  and I guess that’s what we’re doing. We’re certainly not waiting around for the housing market or the economy to change. We just took the bull by the horns and ran with it and we’re making the most of life right here, right now! And it’s all good!