For my outreach project, I went to Clark Central High School to help a high school class record results from a lab. For the class period, I was with a third of the class and their group’s sleeve of Petri dishes. We sorted the dishes into their respective groups based on their set number and strength of antibiotic. I then had them count the bacteria colonies and record the information in a spreadsheet.

I enjoyed this experience as I was able to talk to many of the students and answer their questions about UGA and the differences between college and high school. My group was very respectful and asked good questions and I was able to answer most of them with what I believe is good advice. The majority of questions were about the UGA admissions process and I feel like I was able to help them out.

Through this outreach experience, I was able to broaden my knowledge of that particular lab as I had a more involved position at Clark Central. I was also able to act in a mentor role as the high school students all looked up to me and the other college kids that were there to help.

For my service outreach project, I did the tailgating cleanup. The cleanup took place after the UGA vs. Missouri game. We met behind O-house at 11 am and had some pizza. We then “suited” up. Armed with those little-cool-grabber-thingys, we set out to find any trash to clean. One thing I really appreciate about UGA fans is that they actually take care of our university when tailgating. I was expecting a lot of trash. I was expecting to come back with two full bags of trash. To my surprise, the campus was rather clean. We came back with about the bag 1/100th full.

My group and I took the path from behind O house to Bolton. We did not find much trash except the occasional gum wrapper or granola bar wrapper. The major amount of trash we found was near Bolton dining commons. We found some beer bottles and cans in the stream that ran behind Bolton. This was pretty much the only trash we found. So, we returned back and disposed of all the trash we collected.

In my opinion, this was a great outreach. It gave me a chance to clean up the campus with a purpose. It educated me about where most trash ends up on campus. I was proud to know that our University does such a great job of cleaning up after tailgates.

For my outreach, I went to Clarke Central High School to help with obtaining the high school samples for the antibiotic resistance project. We spent a class period working with the students on the samples.

I was given roughly a third of the class as my group, along with their respective sleeves of Petri dishes. We worked on sorting them by density of growth and photographing the best samples. Next we restored all the trays to the original order of strength of antibiotic and set number. Working with these students was a very positive experience. I was very surprised by how bright and enthusiastic my group was about the project. It was a much smoother and more positive experience than I expected.

The thing that most surprised me was how much the high schoolers looked up to us, the college kids. Although I am only one grade level above most of the guys who were in my group, they seemed to view me as some kind of knowledgeable elder. While I could not answer all the questions they had about science, they did ask me many thoughtful, smart questions about what college was like and advice on the admissions process. I made a close connection with two of the students and we had an extended conversation about life at UGA. Since then, we have talked several times and I’ve been help to help them through the admissions process. Through the outreach, I gained two new friends and learned a lot about myself having the privilege of attending UGA and also about those in the community we call home.

Sadly I do not have any photos. We were too caught up in Petri dishes and college advice that I forgot to take some!

This is some the trash items I saw on Sunday after the Missouri football game. For my service outreach project, I was part of the tailgate clean up group.

At first, I started at the Legion Pool area and found that a lot of other people were cleaning and it was a little hard to find trash. But as I made my way up the stream towards O-house dining commons, I began to see much more.

Once I reached the most densely populated area in terms of trash, I was very surprised to see not only the amount of cans and trash, but also the obscurity of some of the objects. Objects like broomsticks, tires, etc. We filled 3 trash bags of mostly cans and bottles.

As someone who actively tailgates here, I see trash thrown all over campus on football game days. Greek Park Circle, the area where I currently live is often flooded with cans, cups, and miscellaneous trash on Sundays. But I think my favorite part about this outreach was that we went to a less visited area of campus and got to pick up trash I don’t think would have gotten cleaned if it weren’t for us.

This also showed me that the employees of volunteers that do routinely clean after game days do not get everything, us going out there really does make a difference.

I worked this past weekend at the Rivers Alive cleanup at the Derby and Branch street locations. I only worked on one small space of land, but it was amazing (in a really horrible way) how much trash there was. When I first walked up, I was confused why I’d been asked to work in that space–it looked like it was normal forest floor. However, then I noticed that under the layer of vines on the surface, there was about foot deep pile of trash. So I would dig around the vines, pulling out mostly bottles but everything from diapers to bags to a whole chair. I did get stung by a bee.

I think the most shocking thing was that if I drove by this area, I would not have considered it “dirty”. I wouldn’t have even noticed the trash. Often, we look on the surface to decide, but this really made me realized litter is a huge problem everywhere. Moving forward, I would definitely get involved with a cleanup in the future. In addition, it would definitely help to pick up when I see items so they don’t get buried as much.

For my outreach project, I worked with the Rivers Alive watershed cleanup group at the MLK Greenway site. We spent the morning cleaning up trash on the side of the river.

By noon, we had around 20 full trash bags, and there was not any trash in path of the trail afterwards. This gave me hope in outreach projects like this, and the idea that we can reverse the damage we have done to the environment. Additionally, the fact that there were enthusiastic families participating together gave a sense of community and an inspiration to do similar projects with my family in the future.

I was most surprised when the volunteer who led our group told us about how most of the trash built up. Erosion from the soil on the sides has caused the bottom of even shallow parts of the river to become obscured, and so the government encouraged people to lay trash along the banks to prevent further erosion. This did not truly help the issue (the water is still opaque), and it clearly added the issue of trash buildup and environmental degradation.

Below are pictures I took of the trash from our materialistic culture against the background of what should be pure nature. This juxtaposition highlights the uncomfortable aspect that littering introduces to the environment.

For my community outreach activity, I chose to work with Dr. Brickman and my classmates to help clean up litter on campus following a home game, especially focusing on the area around Tanyard Creek. We met behind the O House dining hall, where we were given trash and recycling bags. We also received grabbing tools to avoid hurting ourselves, which ended up being necessary as we found multiple broken bottles. After this, we split up into smaller groups and followed the creek in an attempt to clean up the trash that we could find around campus. My group followed the creek from O House to Bolton, and then went back up Lumpkin street cleaning as we returned to the main group. 

I found the experience pleasantly surprising overall. UGA did a surprisingly thorough job cleaning up after tailgaters, and we had to work to find any trash around. All of the main pathways were relatively pristine, although there were some out of the way or covered areas, such as down by the creek itself, that we were able to find and clean up some litter. While it wasn’t surprising, I was annoyed with the disregard that people had shown the day before. The school does an incredible job providing and servicing trash receptacles throughout campus on game day, which makes the litter all the more annoying. Additionally, much of what we found was dangerous, such as broken bottles or things with sharp edges, making it not only careless but harmful to everyone on campus.

I found the experience very useful, as it showed first hand both the impressive work done by the UGA cleaning services and the areas in which we can improve, both as spectators and as residents on campus. I didn’t gain any new skills through the cleanup, but I did gain a stronger understanding of just what is meant when we talk about litter on campus.

As a result of this experience, I will definitely be more careful about helping myself and others to be more careful with our belongings and our garbage. I also now know where is and isn’t cleaned on campus following game day, and as such could make suggestions about where to target future cleanup or preventative efforts against littering. Overall, I have a better appreciation about the wonderful job that campus employees do, as our cleaning experience was relatively easy and trash free.

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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.

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.