‘A need for change’: New student group picks up UT’s trash

KELSEY TOLCHIN Contributor

A once-white Cook-Out box sits in a puddle outside of UT’s Student Union as leftover french fries rot inside. Hundreds of students meander down the sidewalk and ignore it — they’re late for class.

Parker Wiseman doesn’t ignore it. In fact, he realizes that was the fifth one he has seen today. He disposes of it in the nearest trash can, which is already overflowing with garbage.

None of his courses required it, and nobody introduced the idea to him. The very sight of the littered campus he called home was enough for Wiseman. With that, the sophomore finance major created his first campus organization, Smokey’s Clean Up Crew.

Within the first semester of his sophomore year, Wiseman scheduled several organized trash pickups with the help of sophomore finance and psychology major Jack Pitts. The two led these weekly Sunday night pickups around campus and the surrounding Fort Sanders area, which houses a large portion of the offcampus student population.

“I came up with the idea last year,” Wiseman said. “I looked around campus and saw there was a need for change and thought there should be a way to have people integrate and get something back while also providing something for the community.”

Students often need to earn service hours, and volunteering with Smokey’s Cleanup Crew is one of the ways they can do that. Through ServeUTK, volunteers are able to log and track their progress after participating in a cleanup. Meeting in the Student Union, they are greeted by Wiseman, Pitts and free food. Director of environmental studies and club advisor Michael McKinney presents a slideshow on correct recycling after attendance.

“I’ve been a student advisor for thirty years, and I don’t think I’ve ever had two students that are more organized and professional than

Jack and Parker,” McKinney said. “They’re just amazing, with their ability to do outreach and educate people about this.”

Groups of two or three form after the presentation. Each group receives one trash picker, one trash bag and one recycling bag. Then, they set off to areas around campus and Fort Sanders for two hours.

Many events on and off campus produce large amounts of trash each week, allowing Wiseman to make the decision to change the cleanups from bi-weekly to weekly.

“Something we were worried about when we originally started the organization was doing it every week,” Wiseman said. “We weren’t sure if we should give it time for trash to spawn right back in the place where we picked it up. We didn’t want volunteers not knowing what to do and dilly dallying around without trash to pick up.”

Wiseman and other club executive members quickly found there was plenty to pick up, regardless of time.

Due to the success of this year’s football team, the days following big games seemed to yield the most trash. Herds of Tennessee fans pour into the city to attend home games then leave behind evidence of a victory in the form of beer cans.

“After the Florida game, there was so much trash,” Pitts said. “I don’t know if we weighed that one, but I’m sure it was our largest.”

Chloe Ramey, a junior business management major at UT, stumbled across Smokey’s Cleanup Crew through her sorority. In need of service hours, she found herself one Sunday evening befriending new students and cleaning up the areas surrounding her apartment complex.

“Picking up trash isn’t exactly my idea of the most fun day,” Ramey said. “It was actually kind of fun. They had pizza for us and you got to know the people sitting beside you before you paired up and got the supplies. Before I knew it, the pickup was over and I had new friends.”

Pitts experienced positive feedback from students living on campus even when they were not participating in cleanups.

“One of my buddies came up to me and just randomly told me he swore the Fort has been cleaner since we have been cleaning it up, and I thought that was super cool,” Pitts said. “It does feel good to be recognized for doing something good.”

With the future in mind, Wiseman and Pitts have hired several new executive board members, including social media positions and other directors to help with promotion and operations of the cleanup crew. Rather than trash, the sidewalk is littered with students meandering in orange volunteer vests. Better than Wiseman imagined.