Service Learning Outreach Reflection: Tailgate Clean-Up

This is just a few of the trash items I saw! 🙁

For my service outreach project, I was part of the tailgate clean up group. As someone who loves to tailgate, I see trash thrown all over the place before football games. Many people neglect to use the trashcans while drinking and eating. This creates a monster cleanup needed for the next day. Since I was so interested in the mess that would be there the next day, I started a bit earlier than the others and woke up around 8 a.m. to see what remnants of trash remained. I started at the field near O-house. Here, I saw beer cans, coke cans, pringles trash, and much more. I was in awe. I started to pick up here with a trash bag. After I did this, I went to other locations: frat houses, parking lots, and so on. Here, I saw similar things. There was trash everywhere. I continued to pick up until the trash bags I brought were full.

This whole experience made me feel very frustrated and angry. How hard is it to throw away your own trash in a trash can? If everyone threw away their own trash, which should not even have to be asked, there would be no mess to clean up or potential dangers made for animals.

This experience was helpful to see how much trash really remains after tailgates. I am now a lot more passionate about keeping the environment clean because seeing all of the cans and other trash truly hurt my heart. I am not one to clean often, so I was probably not as diligent as I could’ve been; however, I am now way more interested keeping the earth clean and doing clean-ups after events.

I will not ever litter again, especially in a place that is my new home. I am going to make sure the people I am with also throw their trash away, and if I see anyone fooling around and making a mess without cleaning it up, I will be sure to call them out. By doing this, I hope others will realize in the future how important it is to keep your environment clean.

Chad Hudak – Tailgate Cleanup Crew

For my Service Outreach Project, I attended the Sunday tailgate cleanup behind the O-House dining hall. We went down into the creek nearby and cleaned up trash from the area. I worked closely with Jack Caiaccio.

I was very surprised with the amount of trash that we found even after the UGA cleanup crews went through the area. We found enough trash to fill up 3 garbage bags. There was an absurd amount of cans and bottles that had just been left or thrown into the wooded area near the creek. Another pair of students retrieved a tire, and ironing board, and part of a broken ladder from the creek. I was baffled by this because I couldn’t believe that someone would just throw those items into a creek and think it was allowed.

The process of cleaning up is extremely important to both the ecosystem in the creek and the overall look of the campus. If everybody took the time to pick up after themselves, this would not be an issue and our campus would be even more beautiful. And the saying beauty isn’t easy is very true. Jack and I had to get down into the creek and dig around in the dirt to get out all of the trash.

This experience has reminded me that cleaning up after myself is extremely important to keep the environment around healthy. From now on I will always pick up after myself and others because I want token our campus as beautiful as possible.

River’s Alive Cleanup

For the outreach project, I participated in the River’s Alive river cleanup on the morning of October 5th. For this, I went to the North Oconee Greenway right off of College Avenue, north of campus. When I got there, I was given gloves, a vest, and a trash bag and was told to pick up trash for about a quarter of a mile stretch along the river. What I noticed was that where there was trash, there was a lot of trash. But a lot of the areas along the river were fairly clean.

It genuinely frustrated me about some of the trash that people left. A lot of it was broken glass chards (that were extremely thick), entire milk jugs, tires, and more things that are incredibly noticeable. How can the city of Athens take any pride in its river greenway if there is blatantly obvious trash left. I expected to see more cans, wrappers, and bottles along the river, but I was unpleasantly surprised at the large scale trash that there was. Still, it felt good to collect.

Anytime I participate in activities of clean-up, I feel genuinely good about the experience. Everything I pick up makes a difference, because I might be the only person who notices something and decides to do something. I learned that to get the most out of the experience though, it is important to leave nothing behind because as I said, it might never get picked up. For example, leaving behind a non bio-degradable broken glass bottle could end up hurting someone who doesn’t expect to step on it when they are walking along the river shoeless.

To say that I am going to go out of my way to pick up trash at the river again because of this experience would be a lie. However, I am going to be more conscious about leaving waste along the roadside, which is where I ended up seeing a lot of the smaller scale trash that I expected down by the river.

Michael Burnett – Tailgate cleanup

For our tailgate cleanup experience after the UGA – Missouri football game , we cleaned behind O-house near a river Sunday 11-1PM. Our role was to pick up as much trash as we could within that amount of time. Patrick and I teamed up, collecting as much as we could putting it in our trash bag. I found plenty of trash old and new, ranging from beer cans to styrofoam cups. We even found a whole tire and managed to pull it to the top of the hill. The group of us who were there continued to work, filling up five whole trash bags from the area.

I was very surprised to find out how much trash there was even after the paid cleanup crew swept the area. This made me realize the necessity of the cleanup, to back up the paid cleaners who did not pick up everything in the hardest spots to clean up.

The experience reminded me to be more careful about how I treat the environment. Even the smallest piece of trash has potential to affect ecosystems. I gained skills of getting my hands a little dirty to do a good service to the environment. however, I lack the skills to pick up every single bit of trash in the area. Due to objects being hidden or buried, I feel there is still more to be cleaned.

As a result of my experience, I will do everything in my power to keep UGA post-tailgate clean as possible. Any piece of trash I see in my line of sight will be picked up.

Rivers Alive Cleanup

I did the River’s Alive Cleanup for my outreach project. Specifically, I worked at the MLK Greenway helping clean up the riverbank. There we searched for trash and materials that shouldn’t be near waterways. I went with a few of my classmates and we worked in pairs to find and bag the trash.

I was pleasantly surprised by how small the amount of rubbish we found was. That is not to say that there was nothing to find; there were still bags and bags of garbage but having been around other similar rivers I could really see the difference that Rivers Alive has made in the years it has been working on the banks. It was especially obvious as there was a private stretch of land in our area that we left alone which clearly had significantly more debris in the wooded areas. While we still found objects that frankly had no reason to be there, I could see the progress that had been made and was really proud of the people who have been working toward improving our river.

I think experiencing the process of cleaning up such important areas is useful for everyone in that it makes our effects on the environment easier to understand. I do not think that the experience required any special skills or knowledge, though I found having some personal experience in the woods helpful. While I did not run into any poison ivy or snakes, I found that being prepared for such situations helped put me at ease so I would suggest others have some short teachings on such things as well.

I found that I enjoyed the experience more than I expected and may consider doing it again in the future. The people who were in charge were really nice and appreciated everyone’s help regardless of skill level. I had the chance to speak with one of the men who had participated in Rivers Alive many times before and he told me about how in the 70s people used to use their trash to build up embankments, not knowing any better. I found this fascinating as I have never understood before how so much garbage ever began to accumulate by these rivers. In the future regardless of whether I am able to help with cleanup again, I plan to support the efforts of River Alive and encourage others to do the same and take care of the planet we have.

Outreach Blog Post

Linda Cullen

I chose the River’s Alive cleanup as my outreach project. I saw all the trash left on the side of a major road in Athens and down by the river near it. There were so many pieces of trash all over the MLK Greenway. I was with a group of about 20 other people, which included people from our class and other volunteers. I worked with another student to pick up trash together. She held the trash bag while I used the grabber to pick up the trash and put it into the trash bag.
I expected there to be a lot of trash, but there was so much more than I expected. I was very surprised to see the high amount to trash all over the MLK Greenway. I was also upset at how careless and lazy people can be by throwing their trash on the side of the road instead of taking the extra second to throw it away in the proper disposal area. I was happy to see all the people who volunteered their time to clean up the trash. There were so many more people than I expected there to be, which I was glad to see.
This experience was very useful in giving me a first hand look at how common trash pollution is in our communities. While I always knew that littering was a problem, seeing the effects right in front of me really showed how big of an issue it is. I learned what to pick up on my own and what to alert the leader about, like things that would be dangerous to touch or things I don’t recognize. What I learned in class also helped me understand how important it is to keep our watersheds and roads clean.
Now that I know how prevalent littering and pollution is in our community, I will do my best to clean up after myself and others. I will also try to do more volunteer work to help our environment, as well as educating others on the importance of keeping the earth clean.

Zach O’Connor – Tailgate Cleanup

For my outreach project, I participated in the tailgate cleanup after the Missouri game. Our goal was to collect trash that was left behind after tailgating. The group I was in walked along Tanyard Creek from Oglethorpe to Bolton. On the way back, we walked along South Lumpkin Street. Overall, there was not that much trash left behind. The university hires a crew to clean up after gameday, and they do a great job collecting trash. However, there were still places where we were able to collect trash. The majority of trash found were hidden away next to walking paths. There was also some trash in the creek. The majority of trash collected was related to tailgating. We mainly collected bottles, cans, and red solo cups.

During this project, I was surprised about the tailgate trash situation. I was surprised that a cleanup crew works that well and fast to clean our campus, and I was also shocked that people would throw their trash off to the side or in the creek. What concerned me more was the broken glass that we came across. At a few places, we came across broken glass bottles on the sidewalk. This is dangerous for people to walk around. People need to be more considerate when they have glass bottles. Even with all the trash cans dispersed for gameday, there are some people who will just leave their trash on the ground. By participating in this outreach, it made me appreciate the people who clean the UGA campus. After gamedays, the campus is a wreck, and these workers will clean the whole campus. This experience made me more aware of maintaining a clean environment around UGA. It helped me understand that everyone needs to chip in to keep the great appearance of our campus.

Community Outreach- Tailgate Cleanup

Jack Caiaccio

For my community outreach project, I decided to focus on cleaning up tailgate trash after the Missouri football game. Our group cleaned up the areas behind O-House, and down near Tanyard Creek. It is very evident that tailgating has a major effect on the city of Athens, but it goes too far when people leave their trash, especially cans, on the ground. The University cleaning crews do a good job of getting garbage picked up at the main tailgate areas, but they missed some of the areas that are not as heavily populated on game days.

During our outreach project, we walked around with garbage bags and picked up trash, mostly empty cans and bottles. We picked up about 3 trash bags worth of garbage as a group, and some members even got an old tire and ironing board from the river bank. During the cleanup, I realized how important it is to keep our beautiful campus clean. The UGA officials do such a great job and we sometimes take that for granted, but when you get behind the scenes, you realize just how much tailgating affects the area.

Keeping our campus clean should be a priority for every single UGA student. It was rewarding to help clean up the campus that so many of us call home. I believe that if every remains environmentally conscious during game day, we can avoid any littering during games and truly have one of the best campuses in the world.

CCHS Outreach Reflection – Mary Catherine Meno

For my outreach project I went to Clarke County High School and worked with students in one of the biology classes to look at various bacteria samples and calculate the number of colonies that grew. To prepare for this, I did the experiment beforehand. We first took samples of soil and divided them up into smaller samples and diluted those to varying degrees. These diluted samples were then plated on tet plates and left to allow bacteria to grow. A week later, the colonies in each sample were counted and the total colony formulating units (CFUs) and the percent that were resistant to tetracycline were calculated. The samples were later taken to Clarke County High School where I worked with students to count the colonies and do the same calculations. The research completed may be similar to any future research I participate in in terms of the methods followed. While the content of the research itself may be different, it is import to follow scientific steps and also be aware of errors such as cross contamination or human miscalculation.

Once at the high school, I explained to the students the lab work that had previously been completed with their soil samples. It’s important for the students to understand the background of what they’re doing and where the samples came from so they realize that some of these samples were from their own soil sites. I walked the students step by step through calculating the CFUs and had them work in pairs so everyone was engaged. Lastly, I had the students report their data to the PARE website so that it could be used for other purposes. The information and knowledge I gained about soil sampling and testing came from in-class lectures and case studies as well as hands on experience in the lab and classroom. Presenting the lab and information to the students definitely helped me learn about the topic better because I had to have a more complete understanding in order to answer the students’ questions.

In order to be intellectually stimulating, the project had various aspects that allowed students to participate in. They gathered soil samples and then, after the lab work, were encouraged to think about where that soil came from and what the results meant in terms of that location. To be relevant to the students, we were working with soil that they had collected. When the students actively participate in this way it gives them a reason to be more invested and motivated to help with the process. It was somewhat difficult to be creative when we were following a set list of instructions, but I worked to incorporate various relevant questions and different teams to introduce creativity. In this process I learned that it can be difficult to manage multiple teams at once, but that I am able to do this efficiently. I also was reminded of the various interests of high schoolers and how those interests can carry over into unique questions related to the project.

I analyzed my audience before even arriving to the school and assumed that I would need to work to engage them in the project as some of them may not show great interest. However, I learned that the students were all curious because they had a personal “stake” in the process since we were using their own soil sample. In the future I think it will remain important to have predetermined strategies for engagement but that it’s okay to be flexible and be prepared to disregard those if the audience is actively engaged or engaging in a way you didn’t think about. Next time I do an outreach project like this I plan to not hand out the samples until after giving an introductory speech/explaining what we will be doing, as the samples can be distracting.

By participating in this outreach project I was able to better understand the course content because I had to know the background and the information on a level where I was comfortable answering questions that are not just the straightforward ones. Preparing for this project by analyzing the audience and using that to adjust my approach and ensuring the content was presented at a level that was comprehendible allowed me to better understand presenting and working with groups of different ages. With this experience I learned that coursework in college is still relevant coursework in high school because of the underlying topic that it relates to. Both the high school students and our class are learning about water quality, the only difference is the scope at which we are learning it. Understanding this will allow me to work further with people of various age groups on topics and issues that I am covering in classes even if I hadn’t thought that it would be relevant. I believe that what I came to deliver and help the students understand came across fairly clear, though in the future I could work on explaining the affects of the results and the projects and what they mean to the students. The outreach project overall was effective in helping me gain a deeper understanding of water quality and what affects it and using presentation and leadership skills to share this information with others. Now I know that what I am learning here is relevant everywhere and to everyone and hopefully it can be shared widely in order to work to change the quality of our water systems.

Climate Simulation – Paul Paterson

I’ve always loved simulation activities. So when I heard we were going to be doing a climate simulation, I got very excited. I’ve always thought that interactive forms of learning are more interesting than just listening to a lecture.

For the simulation, my table was assigned to the role of “Other Developed Nations”. This included developed nations other than the US that were not part of the EU, such as Canada and Japan. Initially, we only pledged a few billion dollars – we were expecting other developed nations to do their part. Unfortunately, they weren’t having it. In the first round, the US only gave 17 dollars. Not 17 billion, just 17. In addition, many developing nations were unable to pledge as much money as the developed world, and even needed money to be given to them by others. It became quite obvious that something had to change.

So we decided we were going to help, by increasing our pledge from 2 billion dollars to 20 billion. This would allow us to contribute more to developing nations (who, may I add, were very calm and had a very well-thought-out explanation of where the funds would go). In addition, we increased our efforts with regard to preventing deforestation, encouraging afforestation, and decreasing emissions. As we convinced other developed nations to join us in doing the same, the estimate of how high global temperature would get by 2100 kept getting smaller and smaller. We were succeeding.

From this activity, I learned two things: the first is that selfishness is a big barrier, but that everyone is subject to it. It’s easy to see someone acting in their own best interest and dismiss them as selfish. But when you start acting in your own self-interest, you ignore the people calling you selfish. This isn’t to say that acting in one’s own self-interest is a good or bad thing, but sometimes everybody needs to realize that you can both act in your own self-interest and submit to compromise. Second is that while individuals can’t directly influence the decisions of major bodies like the UN, individuals can do their part by taking awareness of their actions while governments and corporations battle it out over emissions and climate change. Eventually, these contributions will add up, and hopefully, corporations will eventually be regulated, whether by governments or by themselves.