Hayden's Capstone
My Capstone: I organized a cleanup around the school building that took place on May 8th. At first I wanted to do a nature cleanup as my capstone, but I decided that a block cleanup was much smarter. A block cleanup in Philadelphia will always require a lot of hands which is why it was the better option for an event. I decided that the school building was the best area to clean up because it is in an area with a lot of trash and commuters, and it is easily accessible to SLA students who want to participate in the cleanup. More than anything though, I wanted to make the city a cleaner place. Cities are cluttered with litter and pollution, which can not only hurt the environment, but lower the mood of everyone in the city, which is why I thought this event was especially important in this pandemic. The clean up was extremely successful; we picked up twenty bags of trash and ten people came out to help, not including my parents and I. The preparations for this cleanup were mostly bringing free trash bags, gloves, trash claws, snacks, water, and publicizing the event. I made an ad about a week before the cleanup and spread it everywhere I possibly could, with the help of some of my friends. Aside from posting my ad on my social media, I reached out to facebook groups, websites, and organizations to ask others for help. It was very exciting to see strangers showing up to my cleanup, because I had my doubts about it at first. Four of the ten people who showed up were from these efforts. The event lasted from 2 p.m - 5 p.m, but felt a lot faster than three hours. The event was focused around people dropping in and helping with a street before leaving, but almost all of the people who showed up stayed until 5 p.m, one of which arrived at the beginning of the event. After the cleanup, everyone took the trash bags to the dumpsters in front of the SLA entrance, and viewed the clean streets that they had all created.
