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Kendell Goes Back To School

By Alicia Dennis and Susan Schindehette

Originally posted Friday October 26, 2007 06:00 AM EDT

"I'm competitive," says principal Doris Hicks (with her students). "I want everyone to know that our kids can achieve." Photo by: YUNGHI KIM

Not long ago he had a dream that his big brother was being chased by a gang. "When he made it to the corner, some people had beat him up and killed him." He told his mom. "She said everything was going to be all right as long as I pray," he says. "So I pray. I pray that my mom [who has Crohn's disease] doesn't get sick and go into the hospital. I pray that my brother is safe and my sisters are okay. And I pray that we don't have to live on the street."

For the past 10 months, the three youngest kids have been attending classes at a nearby temporary school. But in anticipation of their first day back at Martin Luther King, they line up their school supplies, as excited as if it were Christmas morning. "I got scissors, paper, notebooks and some journals," says Kiara, showing off her pink-and-gray backpack.

Those aren't the only reasons that the kids are glad, at long last, to be back where they belong. "Our school is right there," says Kiara, "like it's always been right there." As for Kendell, he has only one worry about his new school. "It is so beautiful that some kids might get distracted looking at how good it really is," he says. But when they regain their focus, they will surely see things as he does. "The school makes me want to live here," he says, with the certainty of a child. "I look at it, and everything feels good."

For more stories about Katrina's aftermath from Time Inc. publications, go to time.com/katrina.