Shawna Castillo, came back to Manhattan with more than just memories after her week-long stint in New Orleans for an alternative spring break. After volunteering at a local animal shelter, which houses 95 dogs and 20 cats and was damaged by Hurricane Katrina over two years ago, Castillo, junior in animal sciences didn't leave the shelter empty handed - she ended up adopting the dog from the shelter. Castillo was one of the 30 K-State students who went to the Hurricane Katrina disaster site in New Orleans to help the residents with the different issues that arose because of the hurricane. When arriving to the shelter, Castillo said she had had a personal connection with a deaf dog. She said she fell in love with the dog as soon as she saw it. "It's the best spring break that I ever had ­- it wasn't all work and no play - I definitely had a good time," Castillo said. When the students arrived in New Orleans, they were divided into three groups of 10.

The second group spent the week helping rebuild homes that were destroyed and those that were not fixed properly. The third group spent the week recycling paint from the different areas around the city. Mariam Bahadori, junior in psychology, also volunteered at the animal shelter. Bahadori and other students helped clean the shelter. They also helped feed the animals and walk the dogs. It was beneficial to the dogs to have the student volunteers because some of the dogs haven't been out of their kennels in two months, Bahadori said. "If felt good that we could take our time and help people that really needed it," Bahadori said. Both Bahadori and Castillo said that they would recommend the alternative spring break to other students and they said they both had great experiences that left them with feeling of accomplishment. "It's a really good experience," Bahadori said. "It's something that most people don't get to do. You get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn't get to meet otherwise."