Ready. Set. Grab some litter!
On the heels of a successful Earth Day celebration, the St. Ambrose University Student Government Association (SGA) and the student-led GreenLife group hosted the first annual Litterpalooza event on May 1.
This fun, competition-style event gave teams one hour to collect as much campus and neighborhood litter as possible. There were 17 teams consisting of 4-6 members each, with a special mystery St. Ambrose employee assigned to each team.
The winning total? 710.5 pounds of garbage was collected with the top three teams – the Quicker Picker Uppers, United Green Nations, and the Dump Trucks – walking away with top collection prizes and some fun stories to tell.
"Teams were bringing back all sorts of items including tires, plywood, fishing rods, a Village Inn sign, frying pans, and probably the funniest, a Paw Patrol umbrella," said Laura Meloy ‘22, SGA vice president. "It's amazing what this small college can do when we all come together. I was really impressed by the amount of trash people were able to pick up in just an hour!"
Litterpalooza was not only successful in beautifying the campus and surrounding neighborhoods, but it also proved to be an impactful community-building event.
"We were excited to put together an event that empowered SAU students to truly feel like they were making a difference in our environment," Dennis Tarasi, PhD and Assistant Biology professor, said. "You could tell that the teams felt like they were making a big difference in our surrounding neighborhoods. On top of that, they had fun! The competition really drove teams to succeed, while still keeping the focus on bettering our community. I was glad to help SGA and Green Life make it happen, and they did such a great job pulling it all together into such a wonderful, rewarding event."
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