Hitting the streets
Junior Joanna Huff and sophomore Ashlyn Schaffer participated in the Great Indy Cleanup By Caitlin Mannan | Staff Writer
More than 100 University of Indianapolis students came together to clean up litter and complete yard work in the neighborhoods surrounding campus on Saturday, April 4. The event marked the third year that UIndy has participated in The Great Indy Cleanup.
UIndy’s Community Programs Center and Campus Program Board worked with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc., to plan the campus event as part of a national initiative to clean up communities through Keep America Beautiful, Inc. According to the KIBI Web site (kibi.org), The Great Indy Cleanup is the largest litter cleanup program in Indianapolis. KIBI provided the trash bags, dumpsters, gloves and other necessary project materials to complete the cleanup.
“The University of Indianapolis assisted with promotions, fundraising, the T-shirts, lunch and above all, labor,” said Marianna Foulkrod, the community partnerships and service coordinator for the Community Programs Center. “A lot of students come to our university, but they really haven’t been on the street behind campus, or on the street on the east side, so we wanted to find a way for the students to go out, do service and help clean up the community.”
Students were separated into five teams that worked from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Four teams combed adjacent State Street, Hanna Avenue, Otterbein Avenue and Shelby Street for litter. A fifth team worked at the nearby Historic Hannah House to pick up litter and complete yard work on the grounds.
University employee, graduate student and campus neighbor Quinten Starks led one of the cleanup teams. Starks thought the event was good not only for the students and the university to volunteer in the community, but also for the neighborhood residents.
“I actually saw some neighbors come out and start picking up trash,” Starks said. “I think they see the students helping and it makes the residents want to get out there and help, too.”
Greta Pennell, Honors College chair, agrees that the relationship between the neighborhood and the university students is an important one.
“In part, it [the cleanup] came about because the university really wanted to do something to show the neighborhood that the students aren’t just party animals who trash the neighborhood but in fact are good community citizens and good neighborhood partners,” Pennell said.
Junior Lauren Bailey worked with Circle K last year and this year to clean up the large yard at the Hannah House.
“If we’re going to go to school in this area over the course of four years, it’s part of our duty to help improve and clean up the surrounding area,” she said.
Students worked for approximately two hours gathering litter. Some reported the discarded items they found as odd, unusual, funny and disgusting. Sauce packets from nearby restaurants, cigarette butts and fast food containers were standard items.
Sophomore Allison Michel and freshman Anna Elzer said that their group used their creativity to enliven their work by making up fictitious, humorous stories about the people who discarded their trash alongside the road.
“For our group, it’s kind of like a bonding experience,” said junior Amera Schaefer. She volunteered with the Anthropology and Archeology Interest Club and the Honors College. This was her third year volunteering at the annual event.
“It’s just a fantastic opportunity for our students to not only go out in their community – get out of their room, get out of watching TV, get out of that classroom setting – and give their energy and effort and time to building community,” Foulkrod said. “It’s also important because they become aware of whatthe needs are in their own community. They become aware of what their community is all about and they become aware of what our society needs to become a better place to live.”
