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JOPLIN HIGH is operating out of a temporary location inside North Park Mall. This large sign indicates the location within the mall.

Story and Photos by Jeremy Thomas

(Editor’s note: Jeremy Thomas served as an intern with The Independent News this summer. We asked him to send us a first-person account on what life is like in Joplin four months after the tornado)

I was born and raised in St. Louis and St. Louis will likely always be my home. However since August of 2010 I have considered Joplin as my home away from home. I will admit that it took me some time to get use to the transition from living in a big city to living in a smaller one like Joplin.

Over the past year I have grown to love the whole city of Joplin, from the very busy Wal-Mart on Range Line, to my favorite store, Academy Sports. I wouldn’t say that I know the “ins and outs” of Joplin, but in the year I was living there I would say I became very familiar with the city.

I recently returned for my senior year  at Missouri Southern State University and the city I had known looked entirely different when I returned to it after my summer break. I actually left Joplin the afternoon of May 21, 2011; I was in St. Louis the next day when I heard about the tornado that hit my college hometown.  Missouri Southern State had no damage at all.

I was in complete shock and total disbelief to hear and see on television that a category EF5 tornado ripped through the city that I was just in the previous day.  Over the next few days and weeks had I seen photos from Joplin, and the places that I use to shop at and visit were basically gone. I felt extremely sad for all victims the tornado took, and all the businesses it destroyed. I recognized on websites at least two of the victims who were classmates.

This recent view of Joplin is along 20^th Street going toward Range Line.

Even though Joplin was struck by the deadliest tornado in the history of the United States, I knew the city and its people would rebound quickly and be very resilient. That is one thing that I picked up on while living here— the people of Joplin are proud to be from Joplin they are happy for what the city has done and would do almost anything they can to make the city better.

Three months after the tornado, Joplin is slowly getting back to the city I was so accustom of seeing. A lot of restaurants and businesses on Range Line, which is basically the heart of Joplin, were damaged. However most, if not all of the buildings, are either just reopening, close to opening, or are in the process of rebuilding.

The Wal-Mart on Range Line had been completely leveled, but is scheduled to reopen its doors sometime in November of this year. The Home Depot has a temporary store up under a giant-sized tent. My favorite store Academy Sports is in the process of rebuilding as well as tons of other businesses on Range Line, and throughout Joplin.

St. Johns Hospital is currently in a total revamp mode and is preparing to remodel most of the damaged hospital. Heavily damage neighborhoods are basically debris free, but you can just look for miles of the damage done to the houses.

Also, Joplin High School that was severally damaged got a temporary re-location to the North Park Mall on Range Line. I thought it was pretty amazing how fast the people of Joplin worked to get a high school back up and running and have school start on time. So as the months roll along here in Joplin, each day, each week, each month there will be progress in getting Joplin back to normal. That is reassuring for all of us.

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