This past Saturday, the Student Environmental Awareness League (SEAL) hosted an organized cleanup at Luxapalila Park. This two-hour cleanup was the first event of the year for MSMS’s environmentally friendly students, and as SEAL continues its dedication to the city of Columbus, there will be many more volunteering opportunities in the future.

Club president Mariat Thankachan explained the goal of this cleanup project. 

“The SEAL team wanted to allow the students an opportunity to show love for the environment on National Public Lands Day, and I believe we all did an awesome job with the trash cleanup. Not only did the volunteers enjoy the chance to bond with other SEAL members, but they collected 795 pounds of trash in our efforts to benefit the environment,” Thankachan said.

Junior Josephine Shanahan shared her thoughts on what kind of impact the students made on Saturday morning.

“It was great. We found eleven tires, and I think had nineteen bags of trash by the time we were done.”

The group of 30 students and sponsors Dr. Bill Odom and Dr. Elizabeth Morgan also found three smaller tires, several chunks of metal and a boat trailer runner.

“If I asked you how much trash do you think we’d pick up in one and a half hours, what would be your answer? Can you believe that it was 795 pounds? It is unbelievable that people will just throw such things out… some weird stuff too… and it’s not like that everywhere… I think it’s worse in the South,” commented Dr. Odom.

Two years ago, SEAL collected over 900 pounds of litter from the same park, which members believe shows that the students at MSMS care about the community they live in.

“Service is one of the MSMS ideals, and the SEAL club will work to uphold it,” said Thankachan.

Odom and the club believe that an even greater impact can be made with more participants and more time.

Gallery • 12 Photos

Mariat Thankachan

SEAL members collected 795 pounds of trash on Saturday at Luxapalila Park in under two hours.