Month: January 2025

Celebrating a New Class of Southeastern Graduates

On Saturday, Dec. 14, Southeastern honored 1,096 new graduates at the first Commencement ceremony during its 100th year in operation.

Due to the large number of graduates being celebrated, two separate ceremonies are now held every December and every May. The first ceremony at the Winter 2024 Commencement, held at 10 a.m., celebrated undergraduate and graduate students from the colleges of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Education; and Science and Technology. At 3 p.m., the second ceremony acknowledged the accomplishments of students from the colleges of Business and Nursing and Health Sciences.

Receiving 15 different degrees, 389 men and 707 women were officially welcomed into the alumni family. These graduates represented 15 states and 16 countries.

Combating Food Insecurity through New Food Pantry Grant

Southeastern has been awarded an $11,220 grant through the 2024 Food Love Grants Program. The prestigious award makes Southeastern only the second university to receive the grant since the program’s inception.

Made possible by the Popeyes Foundation’s SERVING WITH LOVE® initiative, the grant will enhance resources for the Southeastern Food Pantry, which serves students experiencing food insecurity.

The grant was made possible through the efforts of Student Engagement Assistant Director Adonica Reed, Graduate Assistant Patrick O’Neil, and the Office for Student Engagement staff who successfully applied for the funding to support the university’s ongoing work in combating food insecurity.

O’Neil shared his enthusiasm for the grant. “I’m excited to be partnering with Popeyes to help give back to our campus community,” he said. “I can speak for all of the pantry staff when I say that our students and campus workers are going to be ecstatic when we have an abundance of food.”

The Food Love Grants Program, inspired by Popeyes’ New Orleans heritage, focuses on food access and community support. The funding will help the Southeastern Food Pantry expand its services, ensuring students can prioritize their academic goals without the challenge of food insecurity.

“This generous grant will make a big difference for our students,” Reed said. “We’re grateful to the Popeyes Foundation for their support, which will help us continue to serve those who need it most.”

“Popeyes® and the Popeyes Foundation are proud to give back to our local communities. Through our SERVING WITH LOVE® initiative, we will continue providing our team members emergency-related support and give back to local Popeyes® communities through our Food Love Grants Program,” said Executive Director of the Popeyes Foundation Renee Hobbs. “The Popeyes Foundation partners with Popeyes® restaurants to raise funds for our SERVING WITH LOVE® initiative, so we can support our Popeyes® family and our local neighborhoods.”

For more information on Southeastern’s Food Pantry and its services, visit southeastern.edu/foodpantry.

Collecting Discarded Christmas Trees to Enhance Local Wetlands

Southeastern is asking area citizens to give the environment a gift after Christmas.
 
Turtle Cove and its partners are providing Christmas Tree Recycling, allowing discarded Christmas trees to be dropped off and used for wetland restoration rather than thrown out with the trash.
 
“Recycled Christmas trees can be put back to work in our area marshes, while also reducing the waste going into landfills,” said Rob Moreau, manager of Southeastern’s Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station, located on Pass Manchac between Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas.
 
Although grant funding from the state programs for Christmas tree recycling in many areas ended years ago, local partners stepped up to keep the project going. This marks the 30th straight year Southeastern has conducted its recycled tree program. Each year students from Moreau’s environmental awareness class, as well as volunteers from the local community, have helped to deploy the trees into areas needed most in the Manchac Swamp Wetlands. This year, Turtle Cove Education/Outreach Coordinator Ariel Ebanks is teaching the class and will lead students in the deployment of the trees in mid-March. Approximately 45,000 trees have been deployed through the Southeastern program in the past 29 years.
 
Southeastern scientists and volunteers at Turtle Cove use the discarded trees to help build up marshland in areas that have been impacted by erosion and other factors, said Moreau.
 
Moreau explained that the trees will be used in a variety of ways, creating new habitats for wildlife and, of course, helping to control erosion along various shorelines, most recently occurring on Galva Canal and in areas around the research station itself on Pass Manchac and the boatshed/parking lot area at Galva Canal.
 
This practice also provides hands-on environmental education opportunities for students and other volunteers who help with the project.
 
Collaborating on the project for the 10th consecutive year is the Southeastern Sustainability Center, which will serve as a drop-off point for area residents to leave their used Christmas trees. Other primary partners include the city of Hammond, city of Ponchatoula, Middendorf’s Restaurant in Manchac, and the Hammond Downtown Development District. Several local tree farms and other businesses usually jump in on the action as well in terms of providing leftover trees.
 
Trees can be dropped off through March 5 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hammond maintenance facility, located at 18104 Hwy. 190 next to Piggly Wiggly Supermarket. Trees should be dropped off using the gate on Falcon Dr. next to Piggly Wiggly. During these same dates, city of Ponchatoula residents can drop off trees anytime at 385 North 4th St. by the fence. 
 
The Southeastern Sustainability Center, located at 2101 North Oak Street, will collect trees beginning Jan. 6 through the end of the month from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Fridays. Moreau said a Turtle Cove trailer is maintained at Middendorf’s Restaurant, so diners going there can also drop off trees.
 
Starting this year, two new partners are joining the effort: The Hammond Farmers and Artisans Market will serve as a drop-off location with more information forthcoming, and St. John The Baptist Parish will also be collecting trees and bringing them to Manchac. Curbside pickup can be scheduled in St. John the Baptist Parish by calling Public Works at 985-652-4815, and will take place on Thursdays through Feb. 13.
 
“The city of Hammond will again provide transport of collected trees from Hammond and Ponchatoula to the Turtle Cove Galva Canal parking lot area in Manchac, where they will be stored until they are deployed in the marshes in the spring,” Moreau said. 
 
For all of these sites, no flocked trees will be accepted, and all trees should be stripped of any ornaments, lights, tinsel, stands, nails and screws, etc.
 
“This greatly helps our efforts to get the trees quickly deployed,” Moreau said.
 
For more information, contact Moreau at rmoreau@southeastern.edu, Ebanks at Ariel.Ebanks@southeastern.edu, or visit the website at southeastern.edu/turtlecove. 
 
Donations to help support the activity can be sent by check payable to Southeastern Foundation – c/o Turtle Cove and mailed to Southeastern Box 10585, Hammond, LA 70402, or can be made by credit card through the Turtle Cove website under the donations link.