Artist’s fusedglass creations fill Grand Coteau shop with colorand light
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
Paying attentioninMass was always adifficult childhoodfeat for Connie St.Romain.
Really,how could anyoneexpect akid to listen to the priest when the sun’srays were casting colors on the walls through the church’s stained glass windows?
Foster kittens
Then, there were the windows, themselves. Eachofthe stories they told dazzled in reds, blues and yellows.
“I was so enthralled with all the color on the wallsand the glass,” St.Romainsaid.“AndIjustloved all the deep, rich colors, you know? That’swhere it all really began.”
Which is why sunbeams splash color on the walls of her GrandCoteau antiques shop, Petite Rouge. But there’sadifference.
The glass in St. Romain’sshop isn’t leaded within her windows. It hangs from wooden frames in the form of crosses,mosaics, cardinals, mobiles and chimes, each acollection of colors fused intoa single piece.
That’s right —fused.It’snot a new art form by any means, especiallyfor St. Romain, whohas been created fused glass pieces for 15 years. Still, it’sanart form thathas a way of catching visitors’ attention. How could it not when they, too, find themselves covered in color upon walking throughPetite Rouge’sfront door?
St. Romain opened the shop 28 years ago, filling it not only with
ä See GLASS, page 2G
ngchocolate
Platza bath
BIGDREAMS
BY CLAUDIA LAWS Staff writer
It’snot about what Iwant to do before I die,it’sabout how Iwant to live.
It’smydream list.
That’swhatI’ve dubbed my list of 50 things Iwant to do before Iturn 50, rather than abucket list.
Afew years ago, Ishared how Istarted this journey —making alist of 40 things to accomplish before Iturned 40. Then, as Iagedout ofthat goal, Imade alist of 50 things to do before Iturned 50.
Iturned45this summer and I’ve accomplished 35 items on my 50/50 list.The remaining items are hard: They typically involve travel, moremoney than Ihave
on hand, or both. However,I’m plodding away at them, bit by bit.
I’ve also edited thelist, something I didn’tallow myself to do withmy40before 40 list. (Agingbrings grace for, and with, yourself.) For example, Iinitially wanted to go to acranberry bog. Surprise! Cranberry bogs are home to thousands of spiders. That’s ahard pass.
Someofthe itemsmake me feel proud, like reading 50 years of Pulitzer Prize fiction winners. Some are just silly fun, like renting aconvertible and learning that feeling thewind in my hair makes me giddy.Others are imperative to my future: knowing how much Ihave saved forretirementand planning accordingly.But all of them are important to me.
Here are someofthe highlights from the past fewyears:
Photoessay
Istarted out in my journalism career as aphotographer.But foryears, Ihave worked as an editor,and now I’monthe business side of the newspaper,soI don’t get to take photos too often. When Iwas still aphotojournalist, Ibegan documenting my mom’shometown: Onaka, South Dakota, population 12. Over the past 17 years, I’ve madeabout eight trips there to photograph and I’ve always wanted to publish them but kept telling myself it wasn’tgood enough.
ä See DREAMS, page 2G
Glenn ‘Slats’ Hardin, amember ofLSU’strackand
team, wonagoldmedal in 1936.
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
Curious Louisiana’sstory of LouisianaOlympianBilly Brown has stirred someinterest in the past week.
Brown was a17-year-old kid from Baker when he qualified for the United States’ Olympic track and field team in 1936. He competed in the hop, step and jump,now known as the triple jump
ButBrown wasn’tthe only Louisianan on the1936 team. As pointed out by readers this week, two others made that trip to Berlin,Germany,where Jesse Owenswould become an American legend by winning four gold medals in track and field. Joey Webb, former mayor of Crowley who now lives in Lafayette, wrote, “There is another Louisiana connec-
tion. Dudley Wilkins, whogrew up in Crowley and participated in the ‘hop, step and jump,’ which the triple jump was called at that time at Southwest LouisianaInstitute (University of Louisiana) was ateammate of Billy Brown’sonthe 1936Olympic team and placed seventh. Louisiana was well represented in the ‘hop, step and jump’that year.” Wilkins was just shy of 22 years old when he madethe trip. Olympedia’s website, olympedia.org, states that Wilkins won the 1934 Amateur Athletic Union triple jump, then placed third in that event in 1936, which qualified him for theOlympic team. He also was the Southern AAU champion in the hop, step and jump
in 1935. Wilkins eventually graduated from Southwest Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), then served in World War II. He wasalifelong resident of Crowley,where he died in February 1989. Webb also pointed out that Welsh native Rolland Romero also competed in the triple jumponthe 1936 team.
“Wow,” Webb wrote. “All three American Olympians in the triple jumpevent of the 1936 Olympics lived within 100 miles of each other down old Highway 90. There must be something in the water!” The 1936 Gamesactually were Romero’ssecond time competing in the Olympics. He also competed in the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Romero enrolled at Loyola University in New Orleans in 1931,
STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK
Connie St. Romain holds apiece of her fused glass artather shop, Petite RougeAntiques, in Grand Coteau.
antiques but her ownhandcrafts, including calligraphy and paintings.All thewhile,colored glass was always in the back of her mind —she still loved it and started thinking of ways to make her own glass creations Ironically,the stainedglass windows that intrigued her childhood imagination were off the table.
“I didn’twant to have to use the lead, and different metals for the stainedglass,” St. Romain said. “So,I startedthinkingabout melting the glass together.It was just more interesting to me in my mindset to see how it could work.”
That’swhen she began fusing glass, aglass-working technique that involves joining pieces of glass together in akiln at high temperatures.
St. Romain bought akiln, sheetsofcolored glassand a glass cutter,then began learning her craft through trial anderror “I didn’ttake any classes, but my friend helped me through it,” St. Romain said. “Then Ijust studied, read and paid attention to what Iwas reading. Istarted trying different things and making errors and mistakes, and it just happened.I wasn’tlikeina rush, and it wasn’tmymainstay, so thank God, Icould create it at my leisure. My husband said, ‘Just enjoy it.’”
And St. Romain did. She began cutting shapes into different colors and arranging them into shapes before placing them into her kiln. Sometimes the results were exactly as sheimagined; other times pieces would slip here and there to create atotally different design.
“And then Idiscoveredthat I could even make colors by layering different colors together,” St. Romain said. “You justnever know what you’re going to have until you take it out of the kiln. It’sa surprise, and Ialways look forward to it.”
St. Romain now maintains a studio in her Lafayette home, but no one is allowedtosee it.It’snot that she’sashamed of having a messy workplace, and she’sdefinitely not workingonany topsecret art projects.
It’sjust that where’sthere’s glass, there are shards —lots of shards. Andonlyshe knows how to maneuver her way through the jagged edges without chancing a cut.
Or two.
“I just can’tlet anyone in there,” St. Romain said.
But really,there’snoneed whilethereare plenty ofglass piecesreadily available not only in the windowsofPetiteRouge butalso the Acadian Religious Gift ShopinLafayette, where her crosses are prominent Crosses, in fact, were St. Romain’sfirst venture into fused glass art, perhaps harkening back to her love of church windows as
achild No two are alike, as is the case with all ofher artwork. Even the red glass cardinals in her Petite Rouge windows come in different sizes andshapes
Onemay haveablack wing, another may havered glass layered atop clear.And stillothers are rounder than others.
Her process is always the same, startingwith the glass cutter
“I’d say90% of what Idois freehand,” St. Romain said. “I rarely draw outwhatI’m going to make. But before Idoanything, Ihave to clean the glass with an alcohol base or vodka, which is a grain-based alcohol, whichIuse toavoid any filming. It makes a difference in clarity.”
After cutting comes layering, followed byatrip to the kiln.
“Thekiln bakes it, and it’sgot to go through five to seven settings, because the annealing process is very important,” St.Romain said.
Annealing is aprocesswhere glass slowly cools within akiln to relieveinternal stresses, thereby preventing theglass from breaking or becoming brittle in room temperature.
“It’sduring the annealingprocess, the cooling off phase, that the piece actually becomes one piece of glass,” St. Romainsaid “Itgoesthrough seven stages all the way up to 1,600 or almost 1,700 degrees, and then it’sgot to come back down slowly.It’sa24-hour process, and sometimes some of the pieces have togothrough it twice, depending onwhat you’re doing in the designs. Sometime, it’sthree times —itdepends on thedesign.”
Thinking back to St. Romain’s childhood Sunday mornings at Mass, she may have heard the priest quote Proverbs 14:29 a time or two.
“Patience is avirtue,” it says. Working with glass definitely has strengthened St. Romain’sown patience.
“You have to be patient when doingthis,” shesaid. “It’snot like apiece of paper that youcan cut out, glue it and there it is. It’s alittle more timeintensive, but that’s the therapy in it for me. Ijust like taking the time withit.”
St.Romainhas createdcommissioned pieces in thepast. She still takes commissions, but she has no website or Facebook page. Why? Well, when she’snot working in her studio, she’smanaging estate sales through her business, PetiteRouge Antiques &Estate Sales.
“So, if you want to see my work, you’ll have to either come by my shop in Grand Coteau or the Acadian ReligiousShopinLafayette,” she said. “And if you’re interested in commissioning apiece, it’s best to call.”
St. Romain can becontacted by calling (337) 278-2838 or by visitingPetite Rouge Antiquesat272
E. M.L.K. Drive, Grand Coteau. Her work also is available at Acadian ReligiousGift Shop at 2819A Johnston St., Lafayette. EmailRobin Millerat romiller@theadvocate.com.
OLYMPICS
Continued from page1G
Romero placed eighth in the 1932 Olympics and fifth in the 1936 Games. He returned to Welsh, where he died on Nov.25, 1975
Finally,Baton Rouge’sBob Courtney writes, “Perhaps agreater Louisiana connection to those games would be Glenn‘Slats’ Hardin, who won gold in the 400-meter hurdles in 1936. Although he was from Mississippi by birth he was on the LSU Track team and made Baton Rouge his home for many years.”
Courtney also points out that Hardin’swife was one of his teachers at Istrouma High School in 1965. “His son, Billy,was also an a member of the LSU trackteam
DREAMS
Continued from page 1G
After taking inspiration from one of our photographers, Idecided to just do it.Iculled through years of photographs and got it down to 84 images that tell the story of the Onaka Iknow.I decided to host an art show at the Onaka Community Hall, one of only ahandful of businesses still in operation.
How many people might show up to an art show in atown of adozen? Iwas worried the answer to that would be none. However,over the two-day show,wehad about 150 people. We had food and tables set up so that people could visit.
My husband and Ilit the room so it would be brighter and arranged the tables in an unconventional way.People welcomed me with open arms, visiting, eating, checking out photos and having their photo made.
It wasn’tabout me or even the photos. It was about the feelings —nearly half the photos were from the town’s100th birthday in 2007. So many of those people are now gone or look quite different. People pointed out their parents or pictures of themselves to me. They were so proud, and Ithink, touched. Plus, they shared so many memories with one another.Itwas beautiful tosee, and manydiscussed that it was arare gathering not centered around afuneral.
The town was busy for amoment.
Foster kittens
While visiting homeover Christmas, some friends called and said, “Hey,we’re fostering kittens. Want to come over,chat and play with kittens?”
Why had Inever thought about fostering kittens? Isigned up and Iwas quickly assigned 3-week-old babies who Inamed Dolly,June and Carter
Watching this trio go from figuring out how to eat without bathing in their food to being confident little beings was an incredible joy Giving them up for adoption was very difficult. Icried alot, but seeing so many loving families at the adoption event softened the blow
Create ascavenger hunt
Inspired by “The Amazing Race,” Icreated alist of 11 tasks, including kits with an envelope for each task, and mailed the kits to 12 teams across the United States. All teams started the race at the same time on the same day.Toprove completion, each team had to send aphoto in real timefor each task. Once they did, they could open the next envelope. It was so fun to be apart of it as people sent photos and videos of the tasks or hilarious things that happened. The tasks ranged from ablind food taste test to buying a rock, putting aroll of Mentos in soda to creating five balloon dogs. The teams got apin with aletter on it at the end of each task and the final task was to makeaword out of the pins —“incredible.”
Cacaopod to chocolatebar
TikTok is adangerous place. After watching awoman makechocolate from the cacao pod fruit, Ihad toadd this to my list.
My husband ordered the cacao pods as aChristmas present. When they arrived, there were nine of them ranging in color from abright red to adeep brown. The process was not an easy one, and involved many days of fermenting and slow-roasting beans, then breaking off the shells. We ended up with 13 ounces of cacao beans. We then used acoffee grinder to grind the chocolate and sugar,and then added in melted cocoa butter.And ground them up again in aVitamix, and tempered the chocolate and poured it into molds.
The chocolate bars were gritty, but otherwise, we madesomeperfect dark chocolate.
10 differentkinds of ‘baths
During atrip to New York City
CLAUDIA LAWS’ 50 BY 50 LIST
Completed
1. Go on ayogaretreat.
2.Have alife motto.Stick to it. I’ve adopted the motto from ErikaAlexander,“Iamnot here to see the limits of your imagination.”(Or my own.)
3.Makesourdough bread.
4.Buy aHoyaBella plant.
5.Float in asalt tank.
6.Don’tbuy anything (but food) for amonth.
7.Get my portrait made.
8.Read 52 books in ayear 9.Contactsomeone with my name.
10.Get a fish pedicure.
11.Get my master’sdegree.
12.Get Botox.
13.Have and stick to askin care regime.
14.Bakea season’sworth of baked goods from“The Great British BakeOff.”
15.Organize my pressed penny collection.
16.Visit akavabar
17.Cryotherapy.
18.30 days of hot yoga.Ina row.
19.Make and gift someone 1,000 origami cranes.
20.Visit aJapanese internment camp site.
21.Go to NewOrleans for Mardi Gras.
22.Rent aconvertible.
23.Eat only locally raised food for amonth.
24.Get apostcard sent to me from all 50 states.
25.Dyemyhairthe color Iwant: purple.
26.Feed ababysheep.
27.Harvest honey.
28.Host a12-course dinner party
earlier this year,I visited abanya, or asauna, and did aplatza, also called abirch leaf healing. The facility had avariety of wet and dry saunas and acoldplunge.I had zero idea what to expect from my platza, which Iquickly learned, was for the best.
The man who did theplatza didn’t speak much English. To begin, he had me standundera shower in the open area next to the sauna. It was ice-cold and resulted in quite a squeal from me.
He then took three 5-gallon buckets of ice water and threw them over me while making me stand under the shower.Then he led me by the hand,asI shook, into the darkened sauna. Ithen laid face-down on apile of towels. There were about 12 other people in the room, all staring at me. He wrapped my head withanice towel, then got two fronds of birch leaves that had been soaking in ice water and began to beat my back with them. It was nice, at first, then it started to get harder.Every so often, he’d push thefrondsonme, exhaling loudly,implyingthatI too was to exhale loudly
When Ithink he was satisfied
I’d been beaten enough, and my body was back in range of normal temperatures, Iagain was forced to stand under the ice shower and have buckets of even colder water dumped over me.
At this point, Iwas solely concentrating on my breathing, eyes shut, waiting for it to be over.Hethen led me back into the sauna where Ilay on my back and he used the fronds to beats me from chin to toes. We did another ice shower rotation then back in the sauna where he beat my legs. Then we ended with afinal ice shower Finished, he led me to aresting area where he gently wiped my eyes, put atowel over my head and
29.Collect apennydated with every year of my life.
30.Cacao pod to chocolate bar
31.Taste all the mangos (tasted 10).
32.Foster kittens.
33.Create ascavenger hunt and have friends do the scavenger hunt.
34.Do aphoto essay.
35.Get certified to teach laughing yoga
Remaining
36.Read 20 more Pulitzer winners for fiction (5 left 20252029).
37.Write abook.
38.Get my tattoo sleeve completed.
39.Take a“bath”from 10 cultures (forest bathing,Finnish sauna,Korean salt scrub,Turkish Hammam,Japanese hot springs, Japanese bath,Swedish or Nordic cold bathing,moon bath, Bali flower,IndianAyurvedic, sweat lodge,Russian Banya, mud bath,sound bath,etc.).
40.Grape stomping
41.Hugaredwood.
42.Stayinanice hotel.
43.Visit DeathValley.
44.Throwa dartatmap and go where it lands.
45.Knowhow much money Ihavesaved for retirement, organize it in one place,plan for the future.
46.Visit Quebec.
47.Visit Lithuania.
48.Be in shape/weigh less/ be able to runand be back to previous yoga shape.
49.Do amonth of self-care (1 thing/day).
50.Need anew item.
40/40 LIST STILL TO COMPLETE
1. Shear asheep.
2. See apolar bear in the wild.
3. See the NorthernLights.
4.Visit all 50 states: Alaska,West Virginia to go
dried my hair. Thesensitivity was such acontrast to the brutality of thebirch frond experience. He then wrapped atowel around my body,put me in arobe, draped a towel over my head,had me sit in achair andwrapped my legs with two more towels, then gave me a glass of tepid water.I sat there for about 10 minutes, swaddled like a baby
Once Ifinally warmed up, Iwent to the restaurant, which had flavored water behind the cashier: cranberry, ginger,fruit punch, horseradish. Except it wasn’twater.Itwas vodka. I got ashot of the horseradish. It tasted exactly like horseradish and made my mouth spasm.
Deciding that was enough of an experience, Ithrew on my clothes and walked, slightly stunned, back to my hotel. As Ilay on my hotel bed, Icontemplated if something so out of my norm was worth it. Yes, alwaysyes. Things that exist is this world —sights, experiences, connections with others and things that push my out of my norms they’re all worth every single second. They make me appreciate others, embrace the world and seek out the small places Ican bring joy to others or myself.
Do you have any suggestions? I’m still in need of one more item for the list, and Ihave an eye toward making a60before 60 list. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way, claws@theadvocate.com.
and an Olympianand also ran the 400 meter hurdles,” Courtney writes.
Hardin was anative of Derma, Mississippi, and was amember of LSU’sfirst national championship track teamin1933
He scoredasilvermedal in the 400-meterhurdlesatthe 1932 Los Angeles Olympics,and at 26, was consideredthe world’spreeminent athlete when he went to Berlin in 1936
He not only won agold medal in the 400 hurdles in those Games but hadset the world recordin that event in 1934.That record wouldstand until1953
HardinsettledinBaton Rouge where he died in 1975 at age 64. History labeledthe 1936 Games asthe NaziOlympicsbecause of Adolf Hitler’s intentions to use them asa showcase of his theory of Aryan supremacy. Hitler’spres-
ence cast an ominous shadow over the athletes in theBerlin Olympic Stadium. The launch of World WarIIwithHitler’s1939 invasion of Poland canceled thenext two cycles of the Games, which finally returned in 1948 in London. Harry Truman was president of the United States.
Truman posed for aphotowith New Orleans athleteAudrey Patterson in theWhiteHouse after those Games.
“She was thefirst AfricanAmerican woman athletetowin an Olympic medal,” Advocate Deputy Metro Editor Deanna B. Narveson writes. Patterson won thebronze medal in the 200-meter dash. Though the year was 1948, her win had aconnection to the1936 Olympics. According to theAllstateSugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, Patterson’spathto
the Olympics was inspired by a chance encounter with Owens.
“In 1944, legendary Olympian Jesse Owens spoke at Patterson’s school,” the Hall of Fame states on its website, allstatesugarbowl.org.
“He said, ‘There is aboy or girl in this audience who will go to the Olympics.’
“Patterson felt that he was talking directly to her,despite the fact that African Americans in general, and Black women specifically,had limited opportunities in athletics at this time.” Patterson attended Gilbert Academy,which no longer stands in New Orleans. She excelled in track at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and transferred in 1948 to Tennessee State University in Nashville, where she set the United States record in the 220-yard dash at 26.4 seconds. She eventually graduated from Southern Uni-
versity in Baton Rouge. Patterson also managed the U.S. women’strack team that toured the Soviet Union and Germany in 1969 and coached the team that competed against aRussian squad in Texas in 1974. Patterson died in 1996 in National City,California. In a2017 article, The TimesPicayune looked back on Patterson’scareer,citing an article in its former afternoon newspaper, The States-Item, in which she described her legacy —and her pride in it —for all time.
“I try to be humble, like agood Christian,” she told Item sports editor Scoop Kennedy,“but when I see my name in the Golden Olympic Book, Ijust crinkle all over Please forgiveme, God.”
Email Robin Miller at romiller@ theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK
Connie St. Romain sellsher fused glass artatPetite Rouge Antiques in GrandCoteau.
Q&A WITH MORGAN LAMANDRE
STAR guides sexual assaultsurvivors toward recovery
BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer
For survivors of sexualtrauma, the steps toward recovery can seem dispiriting.
The good news for these survivors, no matter the stage they are working through, is thathelp is literally aphone call away at (855) 435-STAR (7827).
Thenonprofit Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response (STAR), with branches in BatonRouge, New Orleans and Alexandria,isa 24/7 lifeline offering initial emotional support and information, followed by medical care, legal counseland therapy.More good news —all services are free.
“Webelieve survivors, we support survivorsand we need the help of the public to continue our work,” says the program’s president and CEO, Morgan Lamandre Grants, an annual infusion from law enforcement agenciesand donations are whatkeepsSTAR’s doors open. The last one is where the public can be supportive Associated with STAR since 2007, Lamandre has seen and been involved in theorganization’searly daysunder thewing of theEastBaton RougeDistrict Attorney’sOffice to itsevolvinginto a501c3 nonprofit whose broaderscope is “creating social change to end sexual violence,” according to its missionstatement.
How long has STAR existed and howdid it getstarted?
STAR as anonprofit has existed since2012, but realistically it has existed since 1975. It startedout asa program of the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’sOffice, butwiththe support of current District Attorney Hillar Moore, we becameanonprofit to be able to pursue more funding, serve survivors in other parishes and ensure meaningful, confidential servicesfor all survivors.
What are the main things you want the public to know about STAR?
STAR provides free advocacy (case managementand accompaniment), therapy and legalrepresentation to sexual assault survivors. All of our services are free to the survivors we serve, but we
depend on donations and grants to fund our work.
There are no requirements for thesurvivor to reporttothe police to receive our services (most employees aremandatoryreporters, so they —not the survivor —are required to report abuse and neglect of individuals who arecurrently minors),itdoesn’t matter when the trauma occurred (longago or more recently), and we serve all survivors of sexual trauma.Thismeans therecould have been an attempted sexual assault, verbal sexual harassment, obscenity (someone exposingprivate parts) or any other typeofsexualtrauma. Thereis no requirement that the sexual trauma someone experienced involve physical touching.
How manypeople would you estimate were helped by STAR last year? What’s the percentageofyouth as compared to adults?
We typically serveabout 1,000 survivors each year.About 25% are under the age of 18. About 50% of our clients are ages 25-50. When someone reaches out to STAR, walk us through the process of your assisting them.
Iamanattorney,soIcan’t answer aquestion without first saying, “It depends.” If asurvivor first reaches out to us during business hours, then we typically do an advocacy intake, which willinclude aneeds assessment and safety planning. The needs portion will assess whether the survivor would liketherapyor legal representation. If thesurvivor would like therapy,then the advocate will put them on thelist to receiveacounseling screening.A counselor will then follow up in about aweek to clinically assess theclient’sreadinessfor trauma therapy.Ifa survivor is interested in participating in oneof ourtherapy groups, then they may also be provided witha group screening. If the survivor is interested in legal representation or just to discusslegal issues related to their trauma, then the advocate willsubmitalegal representationrequest to ourattorneys.Anattorneywillfollowup withthe survivorinafew businessdays
Many of ourclients get connected to us through our 24/7 hospital advocacyprogram.When asurvivor goes to the hospitaltoobtain aforensicmedical exam (sometimes called arapekit), oneofour advocates is called to thehospital to provide emotional support and information during the process. Our advocates will then follow up with the survivor afew days after going to the hospital. How did you getinvolvedwithSTARand progress to yourcurrent leadership position? In 2007,Ivolunteered as ahospital advocatewith theRape Crisis Center (ourname when we were part of the DA’s office). In 2008, Iwas asked by then-Executive Director Jane Wood if Iwas interested in the volunteer coordinator position. At thetime, however,I was in law school at night
and working during the day.Itold her Iwas notable to take the position, but Irecommended Racheal Hebert, who Iknew from LSU, for thejob Racheal started in the position and quickly made much-needed changes to the program and also led the effort to make the Rape Crisis Center into a501(c)(3) nonprofit as STAR. That was 2012, the same year Igraduated from law school.
Ihad my first child that Septemberand wasready to finda joba couple months later.Iwas hired andbeganworkingatSTARin January 2013. By August, Iwas promotedtoadvocacy director.I passedthat October.Asanattorney,I loved STAR and wanted to continue my work at theorganization, but naturally,Iwanted the work to shift to align with my law
Mentor Miloisacontemporarymethod forcommunication between studentsand counselors. Throughthis software, counselors canschedule meetings, store information and moreeasily connectwithstudents. The programwill first be developed as aweb application and then expanded to mobile devices. Malayashares he resourcesprovided by school counselorsled me to competein national debate tournaments, enroll in early collegewithRiver Parishes CommunityCollege, and applyfor the YoungEntrepreneurs Academy. It would be ideal if all studentscould receive the individual attention Ireceived.”
Shell congratulatesMalayaon building a productdesigned to help studentsreach their fullest potential!
To keep thebranding fun and recognizable,Malaya’s
license.
We officially opened our legal program in 2015 and Iwas promotedtolegal director.Iheld that position until 2021 whenIwas able to focus almost all my time on policy.For about ayearI was the policy director,then became the CEO of STAR in January 2023, 10 yearsafter Istarted working at the organization.
Do you work directly with lawenforcement or anyother agencies?
We work with any agencies or organizations asurvivor may need to contact or access duringtheir journeytohealing and justice as they define it. We do receive financial support annually from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’sOffice andthe BatonRouge Police Department.
How do you raise funds? Are there permanent donors that keep things going? Do you receive anyfederal funds?
We raise fundsbybegging (just kidding), social media and newsletter pleas, fundraisers, monthly donors andmajor annual donors. Our donors are ourlifelineas their contributions can be used more flexibly to supportall our programs. For example, we cannot use any of our grants to purchase snacks or refreshments for ourclients,not even bottled water.Donations can be used to provide those small, yet meaningful comforts to our clients. Thevast majority of our funding comes from federal grants, which are expected to be significantly cut in the coming year
How largeisyour staff and group of volunteers?
We have about 35 full- and parttime staff members, and about 20 volunteers.
If someone is interested in volunteering, are there qualifications? Training? What do the volunteers typically do for the organization?
Volunteers usually answer our 24/7 hotline, but we also have other opportunities. To work with survivors requires40hours of training that we provide online and through virtual meetings. They can learn more about our work at www.star.ngo.
Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.
MALAYA MORRISisduallyenrolled as aDutchtown High School junior participating in theRiver Parishes CommunityCollege EarlyCollege Option program. Sheisonthe road to a future filled with unlimited possibilities. Sheisone of 22 graduatesofthe 2024 YoungEntrepreneursAcademyBaton Rouge(YEABR),auniquelearning experience guidingtoday’s youthas they transform intotomorrow’s business leaders.
YEABR, an after-school programlocated on LSU’scampus, teaches high school studentshow to create,execute and pitch business plansfor funding.
Part of anationalorganization, YEABRis sponsored by theBaton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), LSUE.J.Ourso College of Business, and LouisianaEconomicDevelopment (LED) Each year,YEA BR comestolife throughthe enthusiastic supportofareabusinesses
As asponsor of YEABR, Shell supports programscholarships forstudentsin Ascension Parish,wherethe company employs morethan600 people at its Geismar facility.
Foradditional information about YEABR, visit yeabr.org. Applications forthe 2024-25 programare accepted throughAugust18.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Morgan Lamandre
Malaya’spitch wonher $1,500 in seed money. Like other graduates, she is eligible forthree credits at theLSU E. J. Ourso CollegeofBusiness
business planfeatures her dogMilo in thelogo.
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