University of Connecticut students gathered to clean up their community in an event known as “Don’t Mess with Mansfield” on April 27, running from noon to 4 p.m.
In a partnership between the Town of Mansfield and UConn’s Office of Sustainability, stations were set up around campus with trash bags for volunteers to take. The same cleanup event also occurred the day before, revolving around Mansfield instead of the Storrs campus.
“I think it’s really important to have cleanups like this,” said Amanda Stowe, a sixth-semester environmental science major. Stowe is also a sustainability intern with the Office of Sustainability.
“Because obviously, with all the events on campus, like the campus can get very dirty,” Stowe said. “And I think it’s also important for students to get involved in community service, because they’re able to give back to their community.”
Stowe was one of several sustainability interns stationed around campus, accompanied by EcoCaptains, who work within residence halls to promote sustainability. Stowe was stationed outside of the Student Union, with others located by Shippee, North Campus, Charter Oak and more.
“It’s been a little slow at the Student Union, like at our station,” Stowe admitted. “But I know at Hilltop [Apartments] they just had 30 bags of trash that just got picked up. So, I’d say each station is averaging about like 15 bags of trash, and we still have about an hour left.”
UConn and Mansfield previously hosted another “Don’t Mess with Mansfield” day in November, when they had collected 116 bags of trash, according to an email from sustainability intern Claire Lawrence.
“This event demonstrates a growing connection between UConn students and our local community in an effort to protect the environment,” Lawrence said in the email. “We are so excited to start these cleanups to become part of the solution to this problem rampant in our college campus.”
Stowe credited Sunday’s “Don’t Mess with Mansfield” day to Betsy Mortensen, the Office of Sustainability’s communication, outreach and education coordinator, as well as one of the office’s EcoCaptains and community outreach coordinators, Anna Parker.
“We’re all at different stations around campus,” Stowe said. “And then, we’re working in partnership with the fraternities and sororities as well. And they’re all coming and cleaning up trash.”
Stowe explained that the cleanup required the help of 13 sustainability interns and about 20 EcoCaptains to run the various stations. She was also involved in advertising the event, such as hanging up flyers and posting about the cleanup on social media.
“Basically, what we’re doing at each station is we’re handing out the vests, the gloves, and the bags to all the people coming,” Stowe said. “And then we are collecting it when they bring the bags back. And then Facilities is coming around and picking up all the bags.”
In explaining the cleanup’s impact on the community at UConn, Stowe also emphasized the importance of a close relationship between the university and Mansfield.
“And I think it’s also great that we’re doing a collaboration with the town of Mansfield,” Stowe said. “Because it involves college students with the residents. And, obviously, UConn collaborates with the town of Mansfield for other things. So, we want to increase that collaboration and really be working together to create a good relationship.”