Students participate in Bay Cleanup for MLK Day of Service

Damian Gordon/Staff Writer

In a day of service dedicated to the late civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., University students volunteered at five different locations throughout South Florida on Saturday, Jan. 14. As part of the week-long event commemorating MLK’s legacy, volunteers took part in various activities including cleanup, food packaging and mural painting.

The Biscayne Bay Campus had around 100 students in three different groups — this ranged from pulling out weeds and laying down mulch in the Butterfly Gardens to removing invasive species and clearing any waste by the bay.

Erika Somoza, marine biology major who oversaw the bay cleanup, noted seeing dirty diapers, debris from boaters and various hard to filter out plastics while volunteering.

“There are organisms there that are dependent on these ecosystems. There are plants that are trying to thrive but they can’t when they’re kind of choking in all of this trash,” Somoza said.

Dark skies with on-and-off rain didn’t deter students from getting the job done — they keep working with their pants stained with dirt and grass and their MLK shirts wet from a mix of sweat and rain.

“My favorite part of today was how hard everybody was working and how much people were dedicated and wanted to do it,” Somoza said.

Many volunteers feel a personal responsibility to keep the bay clean and participate in maintaining it.

“Since we are students here and we use this space, it’s our responsibility to clean it,” said volunteer Micaela Suarez said. “It’s sometimes annoying to come back every time and you still see the same amount of trash, the plants grow back more aggressively. At least we’re doing something; it does change a little bit.”

Emmanuelle Jean Louis highlights the importance of doing this not only for the environment and the surrounding community but also personal health.

“I would encourage everybody to do it, because it’s a great thing. You help your community; it’s great for your health,” Louis said.  

Peter Melnik, event coordinator for BBC’s cleanup, arrived at eight o’clock along with the rest of the volunteers to start the day’s work.

“They usually walk in they’re a little tired … By the end of the day, the students just look like they’ve really enjoyed themselves. They look like they had a good time, they’ve learned a little bit and so that’s all we ever ask,” Melnik said.

Melnik’s fulfillment comes from not only helping to clean his community, but also the changes in volunteers.

“For me, it’s really watching those students grow throughout the day, really realizing they actually do have the ability to make some form of a small difference and being able to share that with everybody else,” he said.

The MLK commemorative week continues on and for more information on upcoming events, visit go.fiu.edu/mlk2017.