Just in time for Earth Day, the neighborhoods surrounding East Stroudsburg University are cleaner this week thanks to hundreds of Greek life students who organized a community cleanup on Wednesday, April 15.<\/p>\n
Held as part of Greek Week at the university, the cleanup saw\u00a0sorority and fraternity members file into the streets around campus equipped with garbage bags,\u00a0gloves\u00a0and other gear. Students picked up trash and debris found on sidewalks,\u00a0yards\u00a0and roadways.<\/p>\n
New this year, the group divided into teams consisting of both fraternity and sorority members to cover a larger area, explained Stephen Tellez, a member of\u00a0Sigma Pi Fraternity\u00a0and one of the organizers of the cleanup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have six different teams which means that\u2019s six different areas we can cover instead of all of us focusing on just one spot, which lets us clean a whole lot more\u00a0in the same amount of time\u201d,\u00a0said Tellez, a senior secondary education major from Scranton, Pa.<\/p>\n
Erin Kolanko, a member of\u00a0Alpha Omicron Pi, joined Tellez in organizing the event. Kolanko said the cleanup is one of the highlights of Greek Week \u2013 and one of its most fulfilling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all doing this together because we all care about the same exact thing,\u201d said\u00a0Kolanko, a communication major from Morrisville, Pa. \u201cOur groups all have our different philanthropies that we support, but at the end of the day we all care about our community, we all care about ESU, and that\u2019s why we come together like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other events held during Greek Week from April 12-17 included Field Day, which featured friendly competitions like wheelbarrow races and dodgeball, as well as the annual awards ceremony on Friday, April 17.\u00a0\u202fAwards were\u00a0presented\u00a0to individuals and organizations in categories like service, leadership, academic initiative,\u00a0philanthropy\u00a0and community service.<\/p>\n