TCC students and staff demonstrated their commitment to a cleaner environment at Saturday’s Trash Bash at the Trinity River.
Participants were given bags and gloves and picked up trash along the riverbank, walking trails and neighboring city parks.
Tarrant Regional Water District coordinates the annual event, hosting four separate cleanups during the fall. “Thousands of volunteers” come out yearly to help clean out litter from the Fort Worth waterway and connected land, the water district’s website says.
Many students were surprised at the amount of discarded plastic, clothing and hygiene products. Henyi Lariincoreas, a student at TR, questioned whether the city was partly to blame.
“We need more accessible trash cans,” she said. “We need more designated places to put certain things like cigarettes. There were a lot of cigarettes.”
Despite regularly attending classes several hundred yards away, TR student Ashlyn Abelson was surprised at the water’s condition.
“You don’t really realize how dirty things can get until you take the time to scan and work on it,” they said. “I look down at the river from the windows every day, and I don’t notice anything. Not until today I was like, oh my gosh, the river’s not being taken care of.”
Radiology Technology student Audry Collins heard about the event through the program’s
partnered club, Alpha Beta Gamma.
She explained that as a mother, she wanted to do her part to protect the environment for the
next generation.
“We’ve already created so much harm, so it’s time to try and fix what we’ve done,”
Collins said.
TR Campus Student Activities coordinator Brittani Schultz says the school promotes student participation to encourage them to take responsibility for their environment and provide opportunities to help.
“We’re teaching students to give back to their community … to narrow the footprint we create here in our own space and clean up the area we live in,” she said.
“Some people are shocked to see the amount of trash that’s out here, and as humans, how we take care of the environment. But I tell [students], as long as we have humans that want to do their part … help fight against the trash that people throw out, that can help us preserve the earth.”
Renata Ocampo, assistant director of student development at the TR campus, said experience with humanitarianism could help students in their careers.
“The goal is that students remember these experiences so when they see a need, they know to step up,” she said. “You can be a professional, but you can also be a part of the community.”
TRWD will host another clean-up at Cedar Creek Lake Saturday, Sept. 28, unassociated with TCC.
Those interested can register on their website, https://www.trwd.com/trashbash/.
