By Jocelyn Van Saun
Contributing Writer
Various groups of the University of New Hampshire students could be found around campus with gloved hands carrying big, white trash bags on May 24.
Every year, student organizations gather to help out with MUB Clean Up Day. Each group that volunteered was assigned a different area of campus to tidy up. The event is always held on the closest Friday to Earth Day, and lasts from about 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“The first clean up day was six or seven years ago,” Mary Anne Lustgraaf, Director of MUB said. It was started to clean up the College Brook behind the MUB and around the general area around the MUB and around the MUB itself. It was a project of MUB Staff and student employees with assistance from the Army ROTC cadets who were using the GSR back deck to practice repelling that year.”
After the first year, word of the event spread and multiple organizations showed interest in getting involved. Every year since then, the pool of volunteers has grown, and as a result so has the areas of clean up. Among the student-run groups involved in the campus-wide clean up this year were many members of Greek Life.
Sigma Chi was assigned to clean up Academic Way.
“Academic Way had very little trash,” Brenda Beale, sophomore member of Sigma Chi said. “I think, for the most part, the campus does a great job keeping everything under control trash-wise.”
Once they finished up there, the group spent much of their time cleaning up the ravine located behind the MUB. Areas such as this required a little extra attention because they’re slightly hidden, and litter often goes unnoticed.
The event pooled together an estimate of 200 participants.
“I’ve done a lot of community service before, so being able to have this opportunity in college is amazing,” sophomore Ethan Bettinger and member of Kappa Sigma said. His group was responsible for cleaning up the area around McConnell Hall and B Lot.