Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TX – The UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate Athletics celebrated National Cleanup Day a day early on Friday, as 146 student-athletes and coaches from the men’s soccer and men’s and women’s basketball, golf and track & field teams, as well as UTRGV Athletics staff, spent the morning beautifying the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses.
“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!”
Student-athletes, coaches and staff met at 9:30 a.m. to get gloves, trash bags and assignments.
Then they spread out across the 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.
“It’s so great to see our student-athletes not only back on campus, but also making an impact,” said Julia Perez, UTRGV Athletics coordinator for student development. “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 Saturday is 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.
