 Today, Jamie Pounds is a freshman at Xavier University in New Orleans. My major is biology, pre-med. In 2005, Jamie was looking forward to starting her senior year in high school when Katrina struck. She was living here in Harvey, a New Orleans suburb with her parents. We thought it was going to be just like three or four days just bring the bare essentials. But Jamie had worked that summer. And so before the school year started, I decided that I was going to buy my own school clothes. And so I bought about four or five outfits for school. And she said just in case anything happened that she didn't want to leave the clothes that she purchased herself behind. I said, I'm taking everything that I just paid for. And it's like you never know what might happen. Jamie and her family managed to evacuate to Houston where they stayed with relatives. When we first left that Sunday morning, my father has a sister that lives in Cady, Texas. And my father is one of nine children, so all his other siblings had the same idea as he did. So everyone went to my aunt's house in Cady, Texas. And I believe there was a total of 38 of us in a four-bedroom house with two bathrooms. In Texas, the pounds needed to be able to pay for food and other expenses. Because her parents had a bank account, they were able to use ATM machines in Houston to get cash. I'm the type of person that when traveling, even when I'm going to the store, I like to keep cash in my pocket. I guess I'm a little old-fashioned because sometimes when it comes to computers, sometimes they don't work. So I made sure that I went to the ATM and got some cash along with knowing that I did have a debit card. And I had some credit cards that I knew I was going to be able to use. Having a bank account, I say now it's much easier than just having regular cash on you because it's so easy just to go and it's like, oh, I have a debit card that I know I have money in my account so I can just swipe it. But then you always know that there's extra cash that you have on hand in case you need a backup plan. And I just think it's always good to have one. You just have to make sure that you know how much money you have in your account so you just don't overdo it. The first step in being financially prepared in an emergency is to have a bank account. When I got this bank account, I figured that that was way much easier than having money on me all the time. It's much better to have the debit card than it is just to have cash around. Jamie uses the money from her bank account to pay for food and expenses and to buy books for her classes. Even though she has a good scholarship, Jamie has a budget so she knows how much she has and how much she can spend by having a budget and a bank account, Jamie is able to control her finances. At the university center, Jamie meets up with her friends. All of them were deeply affected by Katrina. We live day by day, hour by hour, literally. You're never ready for a situation like where we had to go through Katrina but I guess the best thing to do is if you have a job, save your money the best way that you can. You need to get in a situation where you have some money to fall back on because if you were living check to check around by Katrina and then your job doesn't exist anymore, where do you go in between those checks? So I just say as best as you can, don't live check to check. Save that 25 cents. Don't live too comfortably because basically we all never thought that was going to happen. Basically we thought we were going to be back in two or three days to our same clothes, just valuables, just material stuff. But you never know when that could be taken away from you or you can be taken away from it. So live your life and be comfortable but be ready for anything. I would advise people to just learn how to lead a more sensible lifestyle, learn to be a little more practical. This could have happened to anybody, this whole situation, losing your house, family members, friends, anything. Don't take it lightly because if it happens again, you know now, have your emergency money somewhere. Jamie is pursuing her goal to become a doctor. I'm just thinking medical school and then residency, however long it takes to get where I want to get. Between classes and studying, Jamie doesn't have much time and she's on a tight budget. Since Katrina and heading off to college, Jamie has more responsibilities and she has to watch how she spends her money. But she still has enough to get a bite to eat with friends and time to go to a free jazz concert. After all, it is New Orleans. Jamie scrimps and saves now because she knows that getting an education is the biggest investment she can make for her future. Definitely more school is in my future. Katrina has taught me a lot. It's taught me that I have to value everything. I think I would say appreciate everything and take nothing for granted.