Hurricane Irma Fosters Sense
of Community in BGGA
Students and Staff
While hurricanes are natural disasters that devastate
communities, they also are a time when people come
together as one and bring a sense of togetherness
and community to stressful times. And that’s exactly
what happened recently when hurricane Irma went
over Central Florida and affected Bishops Gate Golf
Academy.
While the storm hit on a Sunday night, the Tuesday
prior BGGA staff were already making plans for the
students and the facility on how to best weather the
storm. Hurricane models were changing every few
hours and no one really knew what path the Category
5 storm would take.
All the staff could do was plan out different scenarios
to keep the students safe and ultimately make a final
decision on if the Academy would evacuate to another
area or ride out the storm.
The decision was made to keep the students and
staff safe here at BGGA. Staff quickly started getting
everything ready to brace for the storm. While a storm
of this magnitude created panic in some, our students
and staff couldn’t have handled the preparation any
better.
The students came together to support the community
before the storm by preparing sandbags to protect the
homes. Many students had never experienced a natural
disaster where they hailed from and were nervous
about what was to come. With nerves present, they
all acted with the highest of character to follow the
rules and do as instructed by hunkering down in their
condos while the storm ravaged through.