In Greensburg

Ozi Utah came back from her work on the Scout cabin rock pile this afternoon with a big smile on her face. “Guess what I found?” she asked as her smile grew even bigger. She held up a piece of mortar she chipped from one of the stones. All of us in the fellowship hall [...]

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One of the requirements for the Greensburg class is for students to volunteer. Most have concentrated on getting interviews and writing, so the latter part of this week has been filled with work in the community. They’ve volunteered in different ways. One student painted signs. Another mowed vacant lots with an Oklahoma group also staying [...]

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Travis Heying of The Eagle works with Molly Walsh and Rebecca Zepick on their stories. When it comes to providing expert guidance, Wichita media professionals are always more than willing to lend a hand to students. Four Wichita media professionals — Larry Hatteberg of KAKE, Dr. David Kamerer of Wichita State University (soon to be [...]

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One of the most interesting obstacles we encountered last week wasn’t people we couldn’t reach for interviews. It was the sand roads north of town. Well, for one of us anyway. Chandra Stauffer headed to an interview seven miles north of town. A while later, my cell phone rang. It was her husband, back in [...]

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Before today, Matt Deighton and his dalmation Molly had given 152 tours of Greensburg. He’s been using an old school bus on loan from the Church of the Nazarene in Dodge City. Deighton’s job officially ended March 31, but he’s been tying up loose ends and handling unofficial tasks, including tour requests. The church is [...]

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Our caravan from Wichita State arrived in Greensburg shortly after 10 a.m. There are 19 of us. Most are from Kansas, but there are two from Iowa and one from Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone, though, has heard of Greensburg. We’ll be staying in the Greensburg United Methodist Church with Methodist volunteers from Ainsworth, Neb. Another group [...]

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A year ago, good friend Cort Anderson and I took a Wichita State University class to Greensburg to report on the town one year after the tornado. One year later, Cort and I area headed back to document Year 2 of the community’s rebuilding process. We’ll have new faces and new voices in the group, [...]

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Our class numbers have dwindled drastically today. There are just five of us remaining tonight at Jackson Hall on the Barclay College campus in Haviland. Those who departed early fretted about the stormy weather between here and home. No one ran into a problem, as far as we heard. It sounded like the Wichita area [...]

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Despite being under a storm watch, we decided to have a picnic in the park across from where we’re staying on the Barclay College campus. It’s almost 8 Tuesday evening, and we’re finishing stories we worked on today. Several students are returning to jobs in Wichita tomorrow, so they’re the most frantic among the group. [...]

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Home for the weekend, but we’re heading back to Haviland and Greensburg shortly this afternoon. Greensburg — and what we saw, heard and learned last week — has been in my thoughts most of the weekend. I’m sure it affected the students, too. I’m anxious to hear their thoughts when they return for another week [...]

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