By Rebecca Gorelov’14, News Editor

On October 29th, one of the worst natural disasters in Newark Academy history hit the region. Superstorm Sandy, a raging combination of high winds and rain, affected 24 states and took over 200 lives. New Jersey and New York made up the region most affected by the storm, and Newark Academy was forced to close school for an unprecedented full week. Almost every member of the community was forced to endure weeks of power outages, tree decimation, gas shortages, and road closures. The following is a collection of The Minuteman‘s comprehensive coverage of the storm and its aftermath in regards to Newark Academy.

Precautionary Measures Taken

The limited impact of the storm on Newark Academy can be attributed both to luck and to precautionary measures taken by the school’s maintenance team. According to Head of School Mr. Austin “Aside from a few fallen trees and minor leaks, the school’s grounds remained relatively unscathed.” Mr. Stevenson, Head of Maintenance, not only proactively called tree-service before the storm but also stayed at school Monday night when the hurricane passed over to monitor all its effects on the school.

The administration also prepared for Sandy’s aftermath by testing the Honeywell Instant Alerts, the system that alerts the community of any changes in the schedule, before the storm and also prepared alternative communication methods in anticipation of massive power outages.  “Besides the Honeywell alerts system, we used every form of communication we could to try to contact teachers and student from emails to calls.” said Mr. Rollenhagen, Dean of Faculty.  Ms. Grider, Head of Advancement, even created a group text message that included all of the Newark Academy parents and faculty, by hand, to keep the community informed.

Stories From Sandy

“It was a complete mess,” said Mr. Morelli, a humanities teacher, when describing the state of New Jersey after the storm. While Newark Academy’s facilities were spared during Hurricane Sandy, members of the community that are spread across over 80 different towns were less lucky, forcing Newark Academy to close its doors for a week. Many lost power for days; some were stranded in their homes; a few experienced significant home damage. Luckily, no one was hurt. The following are a few of the hundreds of stories about Sandy’s effect on the community.

Mr. Morelli lives in Hoboken, one of the areas most devastated by the storm. When the Hoboken Township required all first floor and ground floors residents to evacuate, he chose not to, since his apartment was on the third floor. By Monday night when the eye of the storm was passing over he said, “Within 25 minutes our street went from being wet with rain to gushing with water…as if someone opened the flood gates.” Later that night his power went off and by the time he woke up the next morning there were four and a half to five feet of water in the street: fire hydrants were completely covered and water was up to the headlights of most cars. His apartment building was flooded by rainwater, Hudson River floodwater, and sewage water.

He was trapped in his apartment for a few days without any power so his building pooled all of their food and supplies. Finally he was able get out thanks to what he described as “the kindness of strangers in the middle of an emergency.” One day one of the other building residents offered him a ride. So after walking through all the floodwater he was able to reach his parents’ house.

Mr. Scott, Newark Academy’s Head of Technology, also lives in Hoboken. After the storm hit on Monday night his street was completely filled with water. Most residents in Hoboken were trapped inside their building. Mr. Scott even said, “You know that the situation is bad when the National Guard is driving around in an armored tank offering assistance for evacuation.” Despite the trying conditions, Mr. Scott did everything in his power to leave Hoboken. Since most roads were closed due to flooding he, “waded through waste-high sewage water” in order to get to Jersey City where he was able to find shelter, power, and an internet connection to upload mid-term grades.

The Jersey shore was without a doubt one of the most heavily affected areas in New Jersey. Many Newark Academy students have houses there that were damaged. Mike Gibbons’15 who has a beach house in Brick Township said, “Our back yard needs to be completely rebuilt, but I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Our house is only one of the street that wasn’t destroyed.” Unfortunately Jake Madsen’15, who has a house at Normandy Beach, was not as lucky. He said, “We didn’t realize how bad it would be, our beach house was completely destroyed. In addition we were really worried that our close family friend died in a fire near by; thankfully she didn’t.”

Most of the community was affected by widespread gas and power outages. Stutti Tilwa’14 who lives in Montville didn’t have power, phone service, Internet, and heat for 13 days; during which time she didn’t once move out of her house. Lexi Katz’14, on the other hand, lost gas. In a desperate attempt to get gas days after the storm, her father left at 4:30 one morning and didn’t return home until 8.

Newark Academy Outreach For Those Affected

In the aftermath of the storm, the Newark Academy community has helped support those affected by opening up its doors to those without power and donating supplies for those most impacted by Sandy’s devastation.

Starting on October 31, the school building opened to the community and became what Ms. Galvin described as a “mini day shelter.” During the day one could find siblings, parents, even grandparents of Newark Academy students seeking warmth, wi-fi and hot water. Ms. Galvin described the atmosphere as “familial”—the community bonded over their similar situations and truly came together in a time of crisis.

Nathaniel Okun, a senior who took full advantage of this opportunity said, “I came to school to finish up my college applications some of which were due on November 1st.” He and many other seniors like him became the “senior support group” that was at Newark Academy throughout the course of the week helping out and working on college applications.

When school resumed on November 5^th, the community service council started a drive for the non-profit organization, Jersey Strong. The organization, founded by a friend of middle school math teacher Rachel Reeves, aids shore communities that were damaged by Sandy. The drive collected supplies such as batteries, cleaning supplies, clothes, and non-perishable foods. According to Community Council member Jessica Lim’14, “the drive was successful considering the circumstances.” In addition, on November 10^th, some members of the community went to St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen in Newark to give out food to those in need as a result of Sandy. In an unsettled time of discomfort, the community came together and forged an even stronger bond, both internally, and with the troubled surrounding communities.