Greening the Greeks
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Tags: Green Jobs Initiative, New Mexico Youth Organized, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Spring Storm
Tags: Green Jobs Initiative, New Mexico Youth Organized, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Spring Storm
It was early morning on a beautiful spring Saturday. Despite it being clear and sunny, "Spring Storm" was about to hit the city. Every year during spring UNM students gather at the football stadium and contribute a part of their Saturday to go out and do community service. New Mexico Youth Organized was lucky enough to be one of the groups that students joined in a community action.
The Sigma Chi fraternity was assigned to help us, and, I can't lie, having just graduated from college, I had my preconceptions about "frat boys". Yet, I was already impressed that this group of young men were not only volunteering, but they were also sacrificing a beautiful Saturday morning and afternoon.
They had already put a dent into my long-held stereotype.
So they joined us on our bio-diesel powered school bus, and we all drove out to Alamosa Park in the South Valley. From the street the park doesn't look that dirty, but upon closer inspection we could see shards of glass dispersed amongst the sand in the playground and lots of trash throughout the grassy areas.
I had explained to the group on the drive over that we had checked out the park the day before and saw how dirty it was, yet there were quite a few children still out there playing in it.
The members of Sigma Chi had a good time while cleaning up the park and even helped us reach out to that community to ask what else needed to be cleaned up, while also helping to spread our message about our Green Jobs initiative.
Thus these Greeks were turning "Green" right before my eyes.
We fed off each other's positive energy and ended up filling up at least 15 trash bags full of trash.
This weekend I was very appreciate to have been involved in an event that not only helped out our community, but also opened my eyes towards a stereotype of mine that I should have given up long ago. It's great to see so many people getting involved in positive actions throughout the city, especially ones that help improve our city and it's physical environment.
Without Sigma Chi's help, that park would not be as clean as it should be for the children playing there. I guess we'll have to start taking our bus out to Frat Row when we need more help doing community actions.
The Sigma Chi fraternity was assigned to help us, and, I can't lie, having just graduated from college, I had my preconceptions about "frat boys". Yet, I was already impressed that this group of young men were not only volunteering, but they were also sacrificing a beautiful Saturday morning and afternoon.
They had already put a dent into my long-held stereotype.
So they joined us on our bio-diesel powered school bus, and we all drove out to Alamosa Park in the South Valley. From the street the park doesn't look that dirty, but upon closer inspection we could see shards of glass dispersed amongst the sand in the playground and lots of trash throughout the grassy areas.
I had explained to the group on the drive over that we had checked out the park the day before and saw how dirty it was, yet there were quite a few children still out there playing in it.
The members of Sigma Chi had a good time while cleaning up the park and even helped us reach out to that community to ask what else needed to be cleaned up, while also helping to spread our message about our Green Jobs initiative.
Thus these Greeks were turning "Green" right before my eyes.
We fed off each other's positive energy and ended up filling up at least 15 trash bags full of trash.
This weekend I was very appreciate to have been involved in an event that not only helped out our community, but also opened my eyes towards a stereotype of mine that I should have given up long ago. It's great to see so many people getting involved in positive actions throughout the city, especially ones that help improve our city and it's physical environment.
Without Sigma Chi's help, that park would not be as clean as it should be for the children playing there. I guess we'll have to start taking our bus out to Frat Row when we need more help doing community actions.
