Loyola students might be at home but Duke and Yale students are making Loyola their home for the summer.

Several members of the Duke and Yale community are occupying the seventh floor of Carrolton Hall. These students have formed a micro-community on Loyola’s campus.

The Duke students are participating in the Duke Engage Program. Duke Engage helps find unpaid internships for Duke undergraduate students. It provides free housing, a food stipend and transportation expenses to the students in the program. Duke Engage is a nine-week program that ends in July.

Tommy Cestare, biology and evolution anthropology major, said the program allows “…students to be immersed into another community to do civil engagement.” Tommy is interning at Magnolia School and aiding in developing a health and wellness program. He enjoys New Orleans cuisine and exploring the city in his free time.

Caitlin Drescher, neuroscience major from Cleveland, enjoys being in New Orleans. She is interning at Touro Infirmary’s emergency room and the Volunteer Coordination department. Drescher says she “feels useful” here in New Orleans.

Annie Rachapudi, pre-med biological anthropology and anatomy major, goes to the D-Day Museum during her free time. Rachapudi previously visited New Orleans and worked on the Saint Bernard Project. She is interning with the New Orleans Children Help Program. Rachapudi works in mobile clinics and an obesity summer camp program.

The Yale students are participating in the Bulldogs Across America program. The Yale University website said the program “…provides students with a rich, rewarding experience of working and living for 10 weeks of the summer in cities across the United States.” It started nearly 20 years ago in Louisville, Kentucky and has spread to eight other major U.S. cities. This program provides free housing to the students and a chance to meet alumni. The New Orleans program is known as Bulldogs in the Big Easy. Bulldogs in the Big Easy is in its third summer. It lasts from May 30 until Aug 7.

Roommates Max Webster, Steve Harvey, and Michael Zucker are making the most of their opportunity. Webster, political science major, is currently working on the British Petroleum oil spill with an environmental law firm.

Harvey, history major, is working with the Broadmoor Development Corporation. He hopes to learn some useful tools from his internship and to “…do some good to a city that needs some good done to it.”

Zucker, political science and international studies major, is working in the Public Defenders office. Zucker said he is happy to “…get to see the parts that tourist don’t see.”

Lee Slan can be reached at [email protected].