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Amanda Denes was curious about what Louisiana looked like after Hurricane Katrina tore through it. She also had a strong desire to help hurricane victims.

In December, Denes and 27 other Ohio State University students traveled to Louisiana to see the devastation first-hand as part of a hurricane relief effort set up through Collegiate Young Farmers. Members of the student organization, formerly known as Collegiate Farm Bureau, participate in educational programs, community service projects and leadership development while striving to promote diversity in agriculture.

Ohio Farm Bureau helped support the trip and donated safety items such as gloves, goggles and knee pads.

Dennis Hall, the organization's adviser and special assistant to the dean of OSU's College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, organized the trip.

The students focused on agriculture-relief efforts such as dumping old plants, picking citrus and transplanting roses. They also did general cleanup such as gutting houses, sorting donated supplies and helping victims move.

Denes, who is president of Collegiate Young Farmers, said the group spent one day dumping several thousand azalea plants from pots. The plants died because the greenhouse didn't have electricity for several weeks and there was no way to irrigate the plants. She said the greenhouse's owner was laid up with a broken back and couldn't dispose of the plants himself. He told the students they did three month's worth of work in one day.

"We gave him and others a sense of hope," said Denes, an agricultural education senior from Wellington. "It felt good helping others."

Caption: Mary Baughman, an agriculture education major at Ohio State University, cleans dead azaleas from pots at a nursery near Folsom, La. Photo courtesy Louisiana State University AgCenter