Community Cleanup Held by ESU Greek Organizations

Just in time for Earth Day, the neighborhoods surrounding East Stroudsburg University are cleaner this week thanks to hundreds of Greek life students who organized a community cleanup on Wednesday, April 15.

Held as part of Greek Week at the university, the cleanup saw sorority and fraternity members file into the streets around campus equipped with garbage bags, gloves and other gear. Students picked up trash and debris found on sidewalks, yards and roadways.

New this year, the group divided into teams consisting of both fraternity and sorority members to cover a larger area, explained Stephen Tellez, a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity and one of the organizers of the cleanup.

"We have six different teams which means that's six different areas we can cover instead of all of us focusing on just one spot, which lets us clean a whole lot more in the same amount of time", said Tellez, a senior secondary education major from Scranton, Pa.

Erin Kolanko, a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, joined Tellez in organizing the event. Kolanko said the cleanup is one of the highlights of Greek Week - and one of its most fulfilling.

"We're all doing this together because we all care about the same exact thing," said Kolanko, a communication major from Morrisville, Pa. "Our groups all have our different philanthropies that we support, but at the end of the day we all care about our community, we all care about ESU, and that's why we come together like this."

Other events held during Greek Week from April 12-17 included Field Day, which featured friendly competitions like wheelbarrow races and dodgeball, as well as the annual awards ceremony on Friday, April 17. Awards were presented to individuals and organizations in categories like service, leadership, academic initiative, philanthropy and community service.

Learn more about ESU's officially recognized Greek Life organizations, including information for families, at www.esu.edu/fraternity-sorority-life.