Undergraduate Student Government Tempe and Victoria's Secret PINK Campus Representatives hosted a joint clean-up at Tempe Beach Park on Thursday evening to help promote sustainability.
Students who participated in the clean-up received food catered by the Original ChopShop, a t-shirt and a tote. PINK also held a contest to see who could pick up the most trash, with the reward being PINK gift bags and a gift card.
Students participated for a variety of reasons, whether it be to care for the environment, support their friends or try to win gift bags for their girlfriends.
The clean-up was organized by Victoria's Secret PINK Campus Representatives Nadia Abuasba, a junior studying business law and business public service and public policy, and Delaney Gerasta, a sophomore studying graphic design. PINK asked the pair to create an event for Earth Month and wanted as much student involvement as possible.
Abuasba, who serves as an intern to USGT chief of staff RJ Javangula, pitched the collaboration to him to help USGT's goals of promoting sustainability and for Victoria's Secret PINK to empower students.
"We picked Tempe Beach Park, just because it's something close and I feel like a lot of people from ASU or like Tempe go there a lot, or just something very prominent for all of us as students," Abuasba said.
Abuasba and Gerasta aimed to have the event serve as a networking opportunity with PINK and ASU students and for students to form connections with one another.
"I kind of wanted something that would be applicable to everybody, and just kind of like foster community in a way that we can do something like greater like bigger than us," Abuasba said.
Geresta said the planning for the clean-up began a month, and PINK gave she and Abuasba freedom to plan whatever type of Earth Day-related event they wanted. She said promoting sustainability through volunteer work was a primary goal for the event.
"We wanted it to be a really big thing, especially because it is volunteer work, which is also another value that Pink has been trying to encourage us to get more involved in this semester as well," Geresta said.
Students who attended also wanted to help practice sustainability. Sophia Baldino, a sophomore studying communication, said “anything counts, even if it's a tiny little piece of trash," to help combat climate change.
And Madison Jones, a junior majoring in business management, said "I'm just happy that I can be a part of (the clean-up) and give back to the community."
Reach the reporter at caera@asu.edu and follow @CaeraLearmonth on Twitter.
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Caera Learmonth is a full-time reporter for the Community and Culture desk. She was previously the Executive Editor of her high school newspaper and has taken journalism programs at the School of the New York Times and University of Southern California.
