On March 29, the Volunteering Together for Service (VTS) club hosted a trash pick up event at Linganore High School (LHS) stadium. 

The purpose of the event was to help keep the Linganore community clean, while offering students an opportunity to gain service hours.

Jessica Walker, the VTS club advisor and science teacher, shared her thoughts on why it is important for these events to occur. 

“I think it’s important to give back to the community,” Walker said. “We wanted to beautify the campus and the stadium because a lot of athletic events were going to be occurring soon, and we wanted to make sure that other schools saw our school as a beautiful place to be.”

The event started at 9 a.m and continued  to 11 a.m. Around eight members of the club participated, in addition to Walker, to pick up trash in the stadium and the back side of the campus. 

“I thought it [the event] was well-received,” Walker said.  

Despite not initially having access to clean the stadium, the VTS members found a lot of trash, such as mouth guards, cans, Polaroids, paper, sports equipment and wrappers. Sophomore Bhavya Yarlagadda, the president of VTS club, shared her thoughts on the event. 

“We just went around and picked up trash wherever we could find it,” said Yarlagadda. “It wasn’t super big stuff. At first, it was small papers that were here and there. Like, Ms. Walker found some Polaroids for some reason. There were a lot of things.”

Trash left behind could be harmful to the environment because it does not degrade. For example, plastic wrappers can be mistaken for food by a bird, leading them to choke on it. 

“It’s important because we can show support to our school,” said Yarlagadda. “Most of the trash, especially plastic, doesn’t degrade. So it’s going to stay there for a long, long time. When people come to our school to tour, or when the incoming freshmen come, it’s important to show it in a good light, [and] let people have a good opinion.”

VTS is planning another trash pickup event in the near future. Another similar event was postponed due to inclement weather.   

“I think we are going to schedule another event at Old National Pike Park,” said Walker. “Our event last weekend got postponed because of the weather, but we are going to be collecting trash at other surrounding places.

The VTS club is hoping to have a bigger turn out for future trash pick up events.  

“We’re going to try to get more members this time, and hopefully we can get more done,” said Yarlagadda.

The VTS club is a growing club looking to recruit more members. Sophomore Ashley Adetolu shared her experience in the club. 

“I do like being in the club; It’s a lot of fun,” said Adetolu. “You get to hang out with people and help the environment and make a difference. And, you can see the difference that you’re making.”

Adetolu wants more people to know that VTS is truly making a difference in the community. 

“We definitely have a message to make, to help our school and help our community,” said Adetolu. “It just helps … underprivileged communities in our school … and our environment.”