Dobie High School students still impacted by Hurricane Harvey heading into first football game of season
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As Dobie High School students prepare for the school's first football game of the year, many are eager to put the past year behind them.
"It's an opportunity to bounce back, basically," said Dobie senior football player Julius Wells.
Wells is one of many people whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey.
Dobie High School's cafeteria became a shelter, serving thousands of people.
Wells arrived at the shelter as an evacuee, but quickly became a volunteer.
"My mama, she's kind of emotional, so she started crying," Wells explained. "I just had to come with my mama because I didn't want to leave her."
And when classes finally resumed at Dobie High School, everything had changed.
"I wasn't there mentally. It was still going through my head," Wells said. "I just had to push through it."
"I feel like I can start over and focus on what I need to focus on and get my grades even better than last year," explained senior Victoria Ayala.
"I feel like if you really went through it, you appreciate the things more in life," said sophomore Melanie Rios. "You see everything different."
In the school's first game of the year, Dobie High School will take on Santa Fe High School, where 10 people were killed in a mass shooting in May.
"They had their problems, we had our problem, but may the best team win," said Wells.
