#UAlbanyStandsWithPR

30 CEHC students left campus in route to San Juan, Puerto Rico during the wee hours of Sunday morning. (Photo by Mike Nolan)

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 22, 2018) – 30 students in UAlbany’s College of Emergency Preparedness Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC), along with two staff volunteers, departed from Albany International Airport early Sunday morning in route to San Juan, Puerto Rico – 17,000 miles south of campus.

Part of Gov. Cuomo’s Puerto Rico Recovery and Rebuilding Initiative, the students are assisting with the storm-battered island’s ongoing Hurricane Maria recovery efforts, along with 500 of their peers from SUNY Maritime College, and 13 from SUNY ESF. Housing has been provided by SUNY Maritime aboard the Training Ship Empire State VI.

The students are partnering with local non-profit rebuilding organizations on three projects through Wednesday: restoring trade-based agriculture by helping farmers plant pineapple, mango and coconut; preparing roofs for construction by removing blue tarps and other temporary materials; and removing debris off beaches. The trip counts toward CEHC’s 100 hours of mandatory field training for its undergraduate students.

Approximately 500 additional SUNY and CUNY student volunteers will follow their lead next month and participate in Puerto Rico deployments of roughly two weeks.

The group returns home late Thursday night. Following their trip on Twitter using #UAlbanyStandsWithPR. Also view press coverage below:

• UAlbany students to volunteer in Puerto Rico (Times Union)
• UAlbany students depart to Puerto Rico to help with relief efforts (CBS 6 WRGB – Albany)
• UAlbany Students Prep for Puerto Rico Trip (Spectrum News – Albany)
• UAlbany Students Helping Puerto Rico Recover (News Channel 10 WTEN – Albany)
• UAlbany Students Head to Puerto Rico (News Channel 13 WNYT – Albany)

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