By Matthew Sotlar
Youngstown State University’s Student Government Association held its first Campus Cleanup of the year Sept. 27.
At 3 p.m., around 25 SGA representatives and student volunteers gathered outside Kilcawley Center near the Daniel H. Becker Family Fountain Commons to walk around campus and pick up litter.
Junior philosophy and anthropology major Jordan Pintar is the executive vice president for SGA and coordinator of the Campus Cleanup. She said although this was the first cleanup of the fall semester, SGA began the cleanups at the end of the spring semester.
“Toward the end of the year, we had a lot of student complaints about seeing trash on the outskirts of campus,” Pintar said.
As a result, SGA began to sponsor Campus Cleanups.
Volunteers could attend two sessions, which were from 3 to 4 p.m. and 4 to 5 p.m. Students also had the opportunity to stay for the entire two hours. Student volunteers and SGA representatives were split into groups and dispersed around campus with garbage bags, gloves and trash pickers.
Pintar said the event was a great way for students to both socialize and clean up YSU.
“[Students] get to meet other volunteers while they’re out there picking up trash and making sure our environment is clean and suitable for everyone to live in,” Pintar said.
Sofia Myers, a junior political science major and SGA vice president for student life, said she attended the cleanup because students deserve a litter-free campus.
“It’s important for students to have a clean campus to walk on,” Myers said. “It looks nice and it feels nice to have a clean environment. It’s just better for nature in general.”
Vice President of Financial Affairs and information technology senior Nick Bezzarro said he believes that student involvement is the most efficient way to keep YSU clean.
“I see a lot of trash around campus,” Bezzarro said. “We would benefit from people cleaning up after themselves.”
There are also student-based organizations that are dedicated to improving the environment around campus, including YSUscape, an organization geared towards improving the YSU campus and the greater Youngstown area by convening campus and citywide resources.
Pintar said SGA will host more cleanups in October and November. Pintar said those interested should be on the lookout for important updates via social media and campus bulletins.
“We send [updates] across campus through PenguinPulse and on a lot of social media, as well as the TVs around campus,” Pintar said.
Students interested in joining SGA or participating in a Campus Cleanup can visit the SGA website, sga.ysu.edu, or its Instagram, @ysu_sga.