A Yearly Event Gone Daily
Rocket Country is undoubtedly one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.
Our community is called home by nearly 23,000 students. One may think it takes great difficulty to stand out in such a large population. It’s surprising what little it takes to make someone notice a person.
Every year, the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) sponsors an event called “Campus Clean-Up,” where NRHH members and other volunteers spend hours collecting trash and recyclable items and properly disposing them. One member of the UT community, however, has chosen to make this event a daily routine. This certainly stood out to me.
James Zarycki, a second-year student, has incredible pride in the University. Also known as JT, he works with me as a tour guide and has become a great friend. I always look to him as a source of UT facts and trivia. Along with his pride and passion for The University of Toledo, JT carries an attitude of responsibility to keep campus as it should be–beautiful and clean. He has done this by enacting his own daily version of Campus Clean-Up by picking up trash and recyclable items on campus and putting them in their proper containers. While this may seem like a small step, it has already begun to spread–to me, that is. JT’s effort to take a second to go out of his way and pick up a trash item has caused me to begin doing the same. Hopefully, I can use this venue to spread the same attitude to others through the web.
Kudos, JT! Let’s keep UT beautiful!
September 4th, 2009at 7:39 am
Way to go, Stephanie!! That is great to hear about young people picking up trash or a stray water bottle, pop can, etc. I too take pride in doing this on the Scott Park Campus. You see, I grew up in the country and my dad taught all of his children to pick up along the roadside which I still do to this day. I think this simple act says alot about the type of person you are. Thanks for sharing this story.
September 7th, 2009at 11:50 am
Thank you for the response, Diane! It truly is the simple gestures that often make the most difference.
Yes, folks, my mother just called me a cheesehead on the internet.