Step Forward Day with the Mizzou Tigers

As a Kansas native, I was taught all my life that Missouri was a scary, backwards place, and the University of Missouri (known for some reason as Mizzou) was the epitome of this. As fate should have it, my term of service as an AmeriCorps member plopped me down right in the middle of Columbia, home of the Tigers. Needless to say, it didn't take me long to learn that Missouri was actually NOT a horrible place, and even those crazy Mizzou students sure had a lot in common with students I have encountered in Colorado and Kansas.

My last weekend here in Missouri really cemented all of these new discoveries. I had the opportunity to spend my Saturday morning with over 70 Mizzou students-

most of them freshmen- for a good ol' fashioned litter pick up! This event, dubbed Step Forward Day, was organized by the campus Center for Leadership Development and Community Involvement. Organizations from around town offered to host groups of students for different

volunteer projects. Naturally, I could not resist offering to host a litter pick up on Flat Branch Creek. Most of Mizzou's campus is in the Flat Branch watershed, and I thought it would be good for the students to see where their runoff goes. Not to mention, Flat Branch runs through downtown, and I figured this would really get this students familiar with all the good hangouts.

But of course, Mother Nature had other ideas. After a crazy night of downpours and flash flooding, it was decided that maybe going down to the creek wasn't the best of ideas. Enter Mike Heimos, the stormwater educator for the City of Columbia! He ALSO was scheduled to do a Flat Branch litter pick up, but instead arrived with maps of downtown. We combined our groups and told them they'd be cleaning downtown. We gave them maps and trash bags, and told them to meet us at "the keyhole" (City Hall) at 11!

Now, walking around downtown, you might not notice the trash...but it is there. Our students returned with over 140 bags of trash from just a few blocks of downtown! We gave them t-shirts to say thanks (and hand wipes for the trash juice), and sent them on their way. Then came the fun part for Mike and I...loading all that trash into the back of his pick up and hauling it away for disposal!

A big thanks to Mike Hemios and to all the Mizzou students who spent their Saturday morning cleaning their community! It is because of people like you that I will return to Kansas singin' your praises!