EDINBURG — In honor of National Cleanup Day, 146 UTRGV student-athletes, coaches and athletic staff spent Friday morning beautifying the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses.
Athletes and coaches from the baseball, men’s soccer and men’s and women’s basketball, golf and track & field teams all participated.
“It was great to see everyone come together to give back to a campus that gives us the opportunity to represent this university,” said UTRGV Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Elizabeth Ortiz, a junior on the track and field team. “Community is what makes UTRGV special. It’s a bond that’s bigger than us. Let’s continue to #RISEup!”
The student-athletes, coaches and staff met at 9:30 a.m. to receive clean-up equipment and their assignments.
They then spread out across both campuses for two hours, picking up trash in the grass, on sidewalks, in parking lots and elsewhere. Some volunteers even helped remove fallen palm fronds, according to a news release from the university.
“It’s so great to see our student-athletes not only back on campus, but also making an impact,” Julia Perez, UTRGV athletics coordinator for student development, said. “We are excited to be able to come together again and engage with our local community as we #RISEup for the entire Vaqueros family.”
While the Vaqueros were a day early to National Cleanup Day, the entire month of September is National Cleanup Month.
National Cleanup Day, which started in 2016, has expanded worldwide to include 180 countries and more than 50 million volunteers collecting more than 280 thousand tons of trash, according to the news release.
