FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When a tornado hit the western Tulsa area on March 25, it left a nine-mile path of destruction. Caught in the line of the tornado, Christina Crowder helped 70 students and parents in a gymnastics class avoid injury as the tornado leveled their building.

Crowder, who is from Tulsa, is a dietetics honors student in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. A gymnast for nine years, she is a volunteer coach at Aim High Academy, a non-profit club serving underprivileged children, and was working there over spring break.

The storm claimed four lives and was classified an EF2 with peak wins up to 135 mph. It was on the ground 13 minutes and wiped out the River Oaks Estates Mobile Home Park. Nearly 200 homes and businesses were damaged.

Christina Crowder being interviewed by local media

Aim High Academy collapsed, but as the tornado approached, Crowder, along with executive director and coach Jennifer Patterson, and two other coaches, rushed children, ages four to 14, parents and nearby residents seeking shelter to a basement where they were protected while riding out the storm.

“I got to the gym at 4:30 and started coaching my little level three kids on beam,” said Crowder. “We finished and rotated to the next event, and Jennifer pulled the four of us together. A parent texted and said there was a tornado in Sand Springs, about 10 minutes away. She had been watching the weather and I knew if she said ‘go,’ it was serious. She said I could leave if I thought I could outrun the storm, but I called my father to check with him. My gut feeling said no, and he said to sit tight.”

The academy is in a former church building converted from a Safeway grocery store, and had a basement. Around 5:20, after talking to her father, Crowder started helping everyone downstairs.

The kids sat on mats and the coaches sang songs to keep them occupied, then the sirens sounded.

“Growing up in Oklahoma, we usually scoff at sirens,” said Crowder. “My parents’ house was hit by a tornado a few years ago. It blew a chicken coop across our property and tore shingles off the roof. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to what I thought was the sound of my windows blowing in. I thought I was going to die. I will never forget that sound. Within 10 minutes of being in the basement, I heard that sound again and knew we were being hit.”

Water started leaking into the basement, and rain began running down the stairs. Then the power went out. A damage survey concluded winds estimated at 100 mph pushed the north facing wall of the gym inward, forcing the roof to collapse.

“We were trying to console the crying little ones,” said Crowder. “I texted my dad and he said more was headed our way. I have never been so scared. Jennifer and another coach went upstairs and when they came back, you could see it on their faces. The gym was obliterated. We didn’t comprehend what happened, but thanked the Lord we were safe. We were not sure if it was over, but firemen soon showed up. I was never happier to see men in uniform. They took off their huge coats and gave them to the girls, about three in each coat. It was precious.”

Firemen set up flood lights, and turned off the gas and water while the group stood in four inches of rising water. Everyone was accounted for and an exit path created. Firemen carried children, one-by-one, up a flight of stairs to the loading dock of an adjacent building.

Parents began arriving to pick up soaking wet children while others were put on buses and taken to safer locations.

“Those little girls have definitely changed my heart toward children,” said Crowder. “I had always said I would only work with late high school and above kids, but the little ones are just too precious and so honest.”

Crowder credits her Christian faith for the ability to stay calm and strong throughout the ordeal.

“The Lord provides,” said Crowder. “He hears our cries, and is bigger than any storm or season of life. Without Christ, my life is nothing, and without His protection that night, I wouldn’t be here. He was and will always be glorified from that experience.”

Crowder said she originally coached at Aim High to get volunteer credit hours, but the experience may point her in a different direction.

“At Aim High, parents don’t watch practice because they have to work,” she said. “For most of these girls, the coaches are like parents. I have been taught more about life and gymnastics from those girls than I could ever teach them. I will complete my dietetic internship next year, but this experience has put pediatrics on my radar.”

The building and equipment at the gym are a total loss, and a GoFundMe campaign has been created to help rebuild the academy. Around $50,000 has already been collected.

“The situation for those children was not ideal prior to the tornado, but they never complained and just love being at the gym and learning,” said Crowder. “They deserve a place to learn and enjoy gymnastics that is safe, and provides every opportunity they need to achieve their best.”

Following the storm, Crowder was escorted to her undamaged car, and dodged flood waters and downed power lines to get home 90 minutes later. She was in town for spring break, and to help take care of her mom, who had surgery, and her family’s farm.

“I ran through the hail into the house and just stood in my father’s embrace a few minutes,” said Crowder. “I have never been so thankful to be reunited with ones who love me. I had been griping earlier about how hard writing the discussion section was for my thesis because of data with no significance, but none of that mattered. Surviving a tornado definitely puts things in perspective.”

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.