Several student groups came together with open arms and open trash bags for RSO Campus Clean Up Friday afternoon.
Garry Butler, coordinator of student development and Greek life adviser, said, “we are privileged to be on this campus and we appreciate that privilege.”
Normally campus clean up involves only Greek life, but this semester Butler wanted to see all student organizations come together to show the community how much they care about ULM.
Olivia James, senior speech language pathology major, believes it’s important to come together with other organizations to keep the environment clean.
“It’s a time we become one and make our campus more beautiful than it already is,” James said.
James attended the campus clean up with the NAACP where they joined groups like Kappa Pi, the art fraternity, and the pre-pharmacy organization.
Aidan Warren , Kappa Pi member and ceramics major, said, “we shouldn’t expect like 50 maintenance people to clean this whole campus if we can plough it out in one day.”
Which is exactly the kind of thing Butler wants to hear. According to Butler, about 70 student organizations participated in the campus clean up turning what could’ve been an hours-long job into “15 minutes.”
“Having one big community can do a lot when we work together as one,” Butler said.
Butler wants to see Greek life and other organizations do more in the future. He said they just finished volunteering at the food bank where they packed 900 bags of canned food and other items.
He plans for them to help at the food bank on Tuesdays and Thursdays of the first week of every month. But that’s not all Butler has planned. He wants to prepare children for the future with literacy days and mathematic days by helping them to learn to read, count and manage money.
“Because I’ve come to think about a lot of people in my family, they’re not able to read as much, but if we had help we would probably be better off right now,” he said.
Butler also plans for Greek life to do mentorships at the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.
“We are going to do things the way they should be,” Butler said.
