Equipped with gloves, trash bags and pickers, students walked the Stone Dam Creek Trail at a cleanup sponsored by the Schedler Honors Student Council. 

The Sept. 9th event allowed students to earn one service hour through GivePulse.

Kyle Urban, a junior and member of the Schedler Honors Council, said over 40 students participated.

Urban said one group of seven students worked from one end of the trail, while the remaining 33 began from the other. 

“We’re going to meet them in the middle,” he said.

He said the council had two main reasons for sponsoring events like the trail cleanup.

 “For one, it does the direct good of getting trash out of here,” Urban said. “But two, it also kind of opens your eyes a little bit, gets you to see a new perspective.”

Urban emphasized the importance of these events for both the honors program and the Conway community.

“It gets you to think about how you and your actions as a human can impact the world in ways you didn’t previously think it could,” he said. “It’s all about exposure to new ideas, new perspectives. Get them thoughts bubbling.”

Clayton Canney, a sophomore and member of the Schedler Honors Council, also participated in the cleanup. 

“Program students are required to get a certain amount of service hours. As a council, we try to get them enough service hours to fill their requirements,” Canney said.

“We have the service hour requirement because we think it’s really important that students get active and involved in their community and try to better the place that they’re living in and studying at,” he said. “We think events like this one are really helpful to the community at large, but also to the developing characters of our students.”

Urban said there are other ways of getting involved in on-campus activities and volunteer work.

“You have your honors council you can reach out to. Also GivePulse, it’s a great place to go,” he said. “There’s SGA — send them an email. There’s a plentiful bundle of registered student organizations, or clubs, that are always going to have events like this going on.”

He said BearsServe also offers additional opportunities for students looking to build their second transcript.

Canney said, “GroupMe is always a good option. There are RSO fairs around campus. Friends like upperclassmen friends are always doing something.”

Emma Corbett, a senior and member of the Schedler Honors College, also participated in the event. 

She said she received a GivePulse link and signed up to earn another service hour towards her program requirements.

“GivePulse has a lot of options. You can just go in and sign up at different times,” Corbett said.

Corbett said students can also volunteer at the food pantry because it is “always needing volunteers.”

Corbett said students should reach out to Lesley Graybeal, the director of experiential and community-engaged learning, if they’re interested in getting involved with the community.

Urban said, “She [Graybeal] is a good person to talk to if you’re looking for volunteer opportunities.”