It’s the time of the year for spring cleaning. This year a group of students want to clean up more than just their apartments and dorm rooms.
As part of a service-learning project for SCOM 354, titled “Communication, Environment and Environmentalists,” the team partnered with Mark Healey from U.S. Forest Services to clean up George Washington National Forest. The project, which will span two consecutive Saturdays, April 19 and 26, asks volunteers to help collect litter in the National Forest.
“Since it’s right around Earth Day, which is April 22, people are going to want to give back and do something,” said Katharine Tweedy, a junior SCOM major.
Healey organized a cleanup day for the nearby North River Ranger District last year as well. He said volunteers collected approximately 80 bags of trash and more than 60 tires and they hope to double the effort this year.
This year’s cleanup day has a focus on overall outreach to involve the community and the campus.
When volunteers arrive at the district, they can pick up garbage bags from Healey and start picking up trash, Tweedy said.
“There are not lots of huge things, though last year they did find a refrigerator,” said Megan Steehler, a senior SCOM and English major. “But all the bottles and cans that you find really add up.”
There is not a specific schedule for the cleanup days. Located about 30 minutes from JMU on Route 33 West, the district is 400,000 acres. The entire forest covers 1.1 million acres.
“People can stay as long as they want to,” Steehler said. “If you’re willing to stay for one hour, that’ll help. If you can stay for three to four hours, that’s even better. This is a great learning experience for people to see where their trash often ends up.”
The project is just one within the course. Professor Pete Bsumek has people from the community partnered with his students. The groups then incorporate communication skills and principles from the course, including design and public relations. There are five groups within the class working on various environmental projects.
“This gives students a hands-on feel to what goes into organizing, affecting the public opinion, and the intricacies of everything else that goes into this type of communication,” Bsumek said. “When you’re doing things in the real world, it’s either an “A” or an “F”, and you either did it right or not. When you’re working with a client like this, you don’t really have a choice to get that ‘F’.”
The students have created posters and fliers to distribute, as well as public service announcements to rotate on radio stations.
“This isn’t just a class project because you have more responsibilities to the other people around you too,” Tweedy said.
They also invited organizations across JMU to encourage more participation.
Tweedy thinks most students aren’t familiar with George Washington National Forest.
“This is a way to get people to think more about the value of the national forest and what it provides,” Bsumek said. “Doing a service project really helps people connect with it.”
