Petal Upper Elementary Principal reflects on EF-3 tornado recovery process

Petal, Miss. - Petal Upper Elementary was severely damaged in January by an EF-3 tornado.

However, over the past six months progress and growth shines throughout the school.

Petal Upper Elementary Principal, Emily Branch said, "Our students, we really saw them grow and just the experience they had, overcoming adversity and with the resilience (they) learned, they will carry that all their lives.”

After a successful recovery, Branch says there's one lesson worth learning. “In the digital age that we live in, we learned the value of having a paper copy back up of a lot of things, even though we had technology at the church when we were displaced, just the value of having that at our finger tips,” Branch said.

Principal Branch shared that no matter the adversity, Petal Upper Elementary will remain "Panther Strong"