Seeking to give children a place to frolic as well as to help revitalize a neighborhood hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, more than 500 Georgia Tech students erected a playground Saturday in the heart of Chalmette.

"We are hoping the playground will be a point of hope and give the neighborhood a point to rally around to try to come back," said Lisa Bradway, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering major at the Atlanta school.

Since Katrina struck in August 2005, hundreds of Georgia Institute of Technology students have been sacrificing their semester breaks to participate in relief efforts dubbed "Geaux to the Gulf" and organized by the university's Christian Campus Fellowship.