College students, locals clean up Park Hill
A volunteering project at Wagner College sparked a community effort to clean Park Hill. New York One’s Tamani Wooley filed the following report:
Armed with rakes, shovels and dozens of black plastic bags, students from Wagner College volunteered their time over the weekend to pick up trash to beautify the Park Hill community.
“We go to school here.” said Wagner College lacrosse player Drew Mueller. “I mean, we live here, a lot of us are going to continue our careers after school, so it’s a good thing for us to help clean up and help make the environment around here better.”
Some Park Hill residents also pitched in to help with the clean up. They hoped the weekend effort would start changing the perception of their community.
“I’m cleaning up. So it can be nice and clean," said seven-year-old Park Hill resident Tyshawn Pierre.
“I’ve been walking by here a few times and people just throw stuff around and it’s not good," said elementary school student Larnell Martin. "I just turn my head and think about just when we are going to clean this mess up.”
“People see where you live at,” said Marjorie Garvin, a Park Hill tenant for 30 years. “They look at it and if you live in filth that what they take you as - a filthy person. They take you as a nobody. But if you’re about something, people look at you different.”
The volunteer project is part of a course at Wagner College that is teaching students about leadership through community activism. While some residents were grateful for the help, others wished the effort was created by community residents.
“Nobody should have to come in your community to help clean up your own community. If other people have to come help clean up your community it’s something really, really wrong,” said resident Gilbert Skinner.
Volunteers said they wanted the weekend’s clean up project will help build unity and give the community a sense of pride.
“If we set an example, hopefully others will follow and we can make a difference in the community,” said Ryan Martin, co-captain of the Wagner lacrosse team.
