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ing them to life at the university, the emergency center kept fielding calls, with staff working in four to eight-hour shifts on the phones. At one point early that morning, Lopes said officials became concerned about one student whose whereabouts hadn’t been confirmed and whose family hadn’t called the emergency center. After some frantic checking, Lopes said officials breathed a sigh of relief — he’d planned on making the trip but never boarded the bus in Los Angeles. On April 12, HSU brought its Spring Preview to an early close, deciding the students from LA needed to be with their families. Talking with the Journal on April 14, Lopes sounded hoarse and exhausted but said she was enormously proud of her team at HSU and the way they enacted an emergency plan designed to respond to an earthquake or natural disaster and modified it on the fly to bring order to the chaos of an unthinkable tragedy. Many folks in the emergency center, Lopes said, set aside their personal grief at losing Arzola, a colleague, to help others. “They did everything they could to help, and put these students and their families above anything else that was going on,” Lopes said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the personnel we have here at Humboldt State University.” But the effort took a toll, and Lopes said the university was bringing in counselors specializing in helping first responders decompress to work with staff beginning April 15. “This wasn’t something our staff was trained to do, and we recognize that we all took on a lot of pain and suffering in being so close to this,” she said. “This was a horrifically tragic event.” l
Spring Preview
Started in 1989 as a part of an effort to boost enrollment and help low-income and first-generation college students explore life at Humboldt State University, the Spring Preview event hosts hundreds of students from throughout the state for a twoday orientation event. Those attending have been admitted to the school but have not yet enrolled, and their trip is paid for by the university. The annual event has been successful and the university estimates that about 50 percent of attending students ultimately enroll at HSU. Spring Preview has been an integral part of a larger recruitment effort that has seen HSU set enrollment records in recent years and increase the diversity of its student body.
Memorial: HSU will hold a remembrance event at 12:30 p.m. on April 17 at the University Quad to “gather as a campus community and an HSU family to honor those who were affected.” Vigil: The university will hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the crash, with the gathering beginning at 5 p.m. on the HSU Quad on April 17. Counseling: Students who need counseling or guidance in the aftermath of the accident can call the Counseling Center on campus at 8263236, while faculty and staff can call 443-7358. Information: Students involved in the April 10 crash, and their families, can call 707-826-6327 if they need information, guidance or direction. The hotline will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through April 18. Donations: A number of funds have been set up to help victims of the crash. For more information, visit www. alumni.humboldt.edu/giving/hsuspring-preview-accident-support.
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northcoastjournal.com • NORTH COAST JOURNAL • THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
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