The 2026 New Orleans Experiential Learning Trip has officially begun!

This summer we have an unprecedented 18 students, plus an emergency management rate, here with us in New Orleans. This speaks to the interest of Mass Maritime students in learning about Gulf Coast disasters!

Our first full day in New Orleans was spent…. not in New Orleans! We headed up to Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capitol, to get a big picture view of risk and emergency management across the state. Our first stop was the “River Model” at Louisiana State University’s Center for River Studies. The student’s enjoyed a tour of the facility including their famous River Model. It is the size of two basketball courts and is used to model various mitigation strategies throughout southeast Louisiana. Students also learned about the history of the Mississippi Delta from a geological, social, economic, and cultural perspective. This was a good orientation for the students to start getting the lay of the land.

We made a quick stop at the LSU stadium and checked in on Mike the Tiger before heading out to the Louisiana state emergency operations center (EOC).

We met with Mike Steele, communications director for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (GOHSEP). He shared his pathway into emergency management with the students. He began his career working in journalism and eventually found his way into emergency management. He shared a bit about various responses he has been on in Louisiana and around the county, along with some of the challenges working in the field. Students got to see where the governor and other key government officials meet during a response, the room used for press conferences, and the EOC.

We ended the day back in New Orleans where students got to try po’boys, red beans and rice, jambalaya, fried catfish and other local fare.