Honors Program participates in annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup
10/20/2024
By Brett Buckner
On Sept. 21, members of the Jacksonville State University (Jax State) Honors Program collected more than 500 pounds of garbage from the Jacksonville creek in just two hours. The 11 students were participating in the annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup, during which volunteer groups picked up litter scattered across Alabama's waterways and beaches.
Every time Nate Adams drives by the creek, he can't ignore the trash scattered along the creekbank. As someone who has "always despised pollution," when Adams, chairman of Honors Program Service Committee, heard about the Coastal Cleanup, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to restore beauty to the area.
"The stream was certainly in need of cleanup, especially under the bridges where homeless people often hang out," Adams said. "The volunteers wading through the creek found numerous grocery bags caught up in creekside shrubbery, and others walking the bank filled their bags with Styrofoam, cans, and plastic."
Groups spread across the stream for maximum coverage, and no one was shy about getting dirty, freshman Jackson Clements.
"We even had a couple wade through the water to get some trash that was floating or on the edges, said Clements, who was part of the group that organized the service project. "It felt good to get out there with a good group of people, take a little bit of time out of our Saturday morning, and do something good for the environment."
For freshman Kendall England, the cleanup provided a glimpse of just how much simple actions affect the community. "I never suspected that even the smallest waterways could accumulate such large amounts of trash. It was eye-opening because it reminded me just how much of a footprint every little thing we do has."
While this was the first time the Honors Program has participated in the Coastal Cleanup, it certainly won't be the last, explained Mark Sciuchetti, Interim Senior Director of Honors and Special Programs. "I'm hoping that this will be an annual effort through Honors," he said, "where we will coordinate the event on JSU's campus and get more students from across campus involves using Honors as a platform to organize."
Participants in the 2024 Alabama Coastal Cleanup were:
- Caden Montgomery
- Ryan Nix
- Jaden Holland
- Jackson Clements
- Mohamad Hamdan
- Nate Adams
- Callie Stewart
- Kari Gardner
- Kendall England
- Natalie Wingo
- Sassy Pilkington