Senior Nicole Lovince has been through a lot. Four years ago, right after graduating high school, her hometown of New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Fast forward, Lovince is about to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in film production. She transferred’ from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette her sophomore year because her major was not offered at her old school. ‘After Katrina happened, some friends moved to Dayton and told me about Bowling Green,’ she said. ‘I received full academic scholarships to come here.’ She hopes to move to Los Angeles after graduation to work on acting and film production. She wants to own a film production company, with an office open in New Orleans. ‘Growing up in New Orleans, I didn’t realize all the culture that’s there; the music, the food,’ Lovince said. ‘I took it for granted because I lived there.’ Although her dad’s house wasn’t affected by Katrina, most of her friends and extended family’s neighborhoods were affected. According to the Discovery Channel Web site, Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and costliest hurricane in U.S. history, killing over 1,800 people and costing over $75 billion in damages. ‘Sometimes people can be rude about [New Orleans],’ Lovince said. ‘There’s a world there and people have lives. It’s hard to be forced to pick up and leave.’ Most everyone she knew in New Orleans moved back into the neighborhood with the exception of her grandfather in Atlanta. The hurricane forced some people who had never left the city to get out, she said. ‘It was difficult for awhile. I remember six months later [after Katrina], there was still water, and they didn’t know if they could get it out,’ Lovince said. Despite the difficulties of the disaster, Lovince still has cherished memories of her hometown. Her favorites involve Mardi Gras, she likes it because everyone is in good spirits, she said. Lovince uses her upbeat and outgoing personality toward her career in film. She recently was a semi-finalist for MTV’s Oscar Correspondent contest. Although she didn’t win, she applauded the ones that did. ‘The experience would have been amazing, but I’m really proud of the work Chad [Courtney] and I did,’ Lovince said. ‘It confirmed I should keep doing what I’m doing because I have to be doing something right.’ Film instructor Jose Cardenas has been Lovince’s instructor for two years. He is the faculty advisor for BG Reel Productions, a student organization. BG Reel Productions is an outlet for students to collaborate in all aspects of media they are interested in. ‘[Lovince] is very ambitious with the projects she’s worked on,’ Cardenas said. ‘She’s spear-headed quite a few of them, which is a big deal because she seems more assertive of making it happen.’ One of the film projects Lovince is involved in is ‘The Class,’ a project she calls a spoof of the show ‘The Office.’ She works on little projects like ‘The Class’ with her friends, all of whom share the same major as her. ‘[Bowling Green] is a really great place for kids to grow and network with each other,’ Lovince said. ‘It’s not too big, and it’s not too small. It’s the perfect environment to grow in.’