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Earth Day inspires events
By Chris Heinitz
Published:
Monday, April 19, 2004
Media Credit: Ashley Preste
Second grade Prince of Peace student Sarah Gross glances at artwork done by her classmates for the Earth Day Half Marathon Event. The event took place from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Halenbeck Hall.
With Earth Day coming up this week, environmentally conscious students and community members gathered for a variety of events this weekend, including a half marathon and community cleanup.
Young and old, seasoned veterans and first-time marathon runners competed in the Campus Recreation-sponsored 5th Annual Earth Day Half Marathon Festival.
Participants came early to pick up trash along the race trail and a health expo followed the race.
"It was a success again. We grow by about 30 percent every year, and we did that again," said event organizer Chris Haukos.
Two thousand runners with various levels of expertise competed in the 5k Pasta Run, 1k Junior Run and Half Marathon with a $500 first place prize at stake.
"The race is a really good way to raise money for the community and promote a good message," Haukos said.
The event is beginning to attract more and more competitive participants.
"We have a good base of runners, in fact, one runner even participated in the Olympic trials," Haukos said.
Saturday, Volunteer Connection sponsored its second Earth Day Cleanup, offering a much-needed spring clean for the SCSU residential area.
Students and community members gathered in Barden Park and were assigned a street, given a trash bag and gloves and asked to pick up the streets of the surrounding area.
"Me and three other friends teamed up and cleaned up a four block span on 10th Street. It was very rewarding, I felt really good afterward and so did the people I worked with," said first-year art history major and cleanup volunteer Laura Selin.
The neighborhood cleanup started off as a one time a year event and has grown since then.
"We had a cleanup in the fall, and it was suggested that we do one in the spring because of the success we had in the fall," said graduate assistant Kara Good.
Marge Pryately, SCSU professor and member of St. Cloud Historical Neighborhood and Preservation Society, has a special interest in the cleanup as an area homeowner. She said she likes the fact that students have a chance to see what accumulates in the neighborhood.
"Even the students are noticing, and this is the great thing I think, when they try and pick up these neighborhoods; how bad it is. They can't even pick up all the cigarette butts and broken glass. They're getting to see what homeowners live with everyday, which can be really gross," Pryately said.
Many students think that it's only other students living in the area.
"There are a number of private residents that live here with kids and older people, that's something we hope students will realize. We all need to get along together to keep the neighborhood clean and safe and quiet - the kind of place that people want to live," Pryately said.
The events are designed to promote environmental awareness and get people to think about the impact they're having on there community.
"It's about getting people to take responsibility for there community," said Service Learning Coordinator Eveily Freeman.
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