Amanda Hoevet’s senior project took her to the flood-ravaged neighborhoods of New Orleans.

The North Medford High School student spent a week working with other volunteers who are helping New Orleans residents rebuild their city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She stripped water- damaged houses down to their frames, cleaned flood victims’ personal belongings and made a photo inventory of houses in one of the city’s most devastated areas.

Hoevet, 17, learned to handle a crowbar and a shovel as she removed rotten wallboard. She had to wear a mask, goggles and protective clothing to shield her from potentially toxic mold.

"I probably looked like an alien," she said.

"We tore out the inside of the house and threw it outside," she said. "Garbage trucks picked it up.

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"It was really, really hard work. It was very hot, especially with the mask on. You’d have to go outside for a while to catch your breath."

She also learned that television images and photographs can’t begin to convey the devastation wrought by the storm.

"You see pictures on the Internet and TV, and you think it’s really bad, but you can’t get a real perspective without going there," she said.

"I was blown away."

The idea to go to Louisiana emerged soon after the hurricane, when Hoevet and her mom, Kathy, were talking about what she might do for her senior project. (Students in the Medford School District and several other districts do an independent project in their senior year as the capstone of their high school education.)

The conversation turned to a family friend whose home in Mississippi was destroyed by the storm.

"We wanted to do something for her community," Amanda Hoevet said.

The plan changed as Amanda Hoevet searched the Internet for the right volunteer opportunity. After querying several organizations, she signed on with Relief Spark, a California-based organization that was sending volunteers to New Orleans.

Volunteers had to be 18 years old to participate or be accompanied by a parent, so Kathy Hoevet went along, too.

Mother and daughter used frequent-flier miles to pay for air fare and settled into Camp Algiers, a tent city for relief workers. They lived with other volunteers, taking their meals from a community kitchen and sleeping in a huge tent.

"We were surprised at how nice it was," Kathy Hoevet said. "They had real beds in there."

The demolition work "felt strange," Amanda Hoevet said, "because it was somebody’s house. It was like you were invading or something."

"You could smell the mold through the mask," Kathy Hoevet said. "The next day we got better masks."

Hoevet will also write a research paper and make an oral presentation to a panel of judges as part of the project.

She plans to enroll in Portland State University next year to study art history, but she hopes to find some time to return to New Orleans.

"I’d really like to go back there," she said. "They really need the help."

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com.