Four Spanish-speaking international students and a faculty member from Northwestern State University volunteered at the Louisiana State Emergency Mega Shelter in Alexandria Thursday to act as translators in assisting evacuees from southeast Texas driven north by Hurricane Harvey. Shelter organizers reached out to NSU seeking help in communicating with Spanish speakers who were among the 2,500 evacuees at the shelter.

Dr. Telba Espinosa, director of NSU’s International Student Resource Center, accompanied students Daniela Salas, Nestor Mercado-Garcia, Rafael Caitlin-Atienzar and Anna Cardaba-Garcia who spent the day offering assistance in communicating with evacuees and getting residents settled. NSU has nearly 100 international students enrolled, many of them from Central and South America.