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Major repairs continue at Main Campus damaged by Hurricane Laura

LAKE CHARLES – SOWELA Technical Community will resume classes online only on Friday, September 25, 2020 for students at its main campus in Lake Charles, and classes will resume on the same date in person and online at its Jennings and Oakdale campuses.

Major repairs are underway at the SOWELA Technical Community College in Lake Charles where several of the 13 buildings on campus sustained moderate to major roof and/or structural damage by Hurricane Laura, the worst storm to hit the Louisiana coat in more than 150 years.

SOWELA Technical Community College has completed a thorough assessment of the damages to the main campus in Lake Charles and the instructional sites in Jennings and Oakdale. Due to significant damage to the main campus buildings in Lake Charles, on-campus classes in Lake Charles will not resume at this time.

Fall classes that began face-to-face on the main campus in Lake Charles will be converted to online instruction only, where possible, until the buildings are ready for use. Students will be notified, via Canvas, whether their Lake Charles face-to-face classes will be converted to online instruction. Classes that can be converted to online will also resume September 25, 2020. Additional details will be published in the coming weeks, along with an updated academic calendar. In person, hybrid and online classes that started the fall semester in August at Jennings and Oakdale will resume also on September 25, 2020.

SOWELA’s 4,000 students, faculty and staff will be notified, via Canvas, whether their Lake Charles face-to-face classes will be converted to online instruction. For official updates, follow www.sowela.edu. SOWELA officials thanked the students, faculty and staff for their continued patience and urged all to stay safe. Anyone needing assistance can contact info@sowela.edu.

Since the storm struck on August 28, the Lake Charles, Oakdale and Jennings campuses have been closed and all classes (including hybrid and online) have been paused.  Many SOWELA employees and students are still away from their homes as they have been busy with repairs to damages on their personal property,

The SOWELA Lake Charles campus is located northeast of the city next to the Chennault Airport which at the height of the storm recorded wind gusts of more than 100 mph as the Category 4 hurricane came ashore in Southwest Louisiana.

SOWELA officials have begun repairs on the minimal damage to its Oakdale site which houses programs such as Forest Technology, Industrial Instrumentation Technology, and Practical Nursing.  SOWELA’s Morgan Smith Instructional Site in Jennings was spared any significant damage.