'I hate seeing it dirty': 7th graders create Capaha Park cleanup group

A handful of eco-conscious students with plastic shopping bags in hand are making a difference within the community by picking up trash once a month after school at Capaha Park in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Four seventh-graders at Cape Girardeau Middle School make up the off-campus, core volunteer group, "Capaha Cleaning Crew."

Wednesday afternoon, Gabby Knupp, Kierra Womack and Aaliyah Solis were scouting the area for debris in matching bright orange T-shirts near Capaha Park's Rose Garden.

Knupp started the initiative with Womack in September, she said. As of late, the group's efforts have gained momentum due to a class assignment, she said.

Additional students will sometimes meet the crew at the park to participate, they said. Up to 13 have joined the cleaning effort, according to Knupp.

"I guess Kierra and I are the leaders, because I keep all the stuff at my house," Knupp said.

The local project initiative first stemmed from the Lexus Eco Challenge, she said.

The nationwide challenge urged students to get involved in project-based learning, teamwork and skill-building as they work to develop a solution to an environmental issue affecting their community, according to the competition's website.

And after the contest, Knupp said, the efforts "just kept going."

"A lot of people think it's really cool, but a lot of them don't want to come and clean," she said.

The main push behind Knupp wanting to clean, she said, is because afterward, "the park just looks a lot better."

Knupp said, "I live close by, so I come here a lot, and I hate seeing it dirty."

No one really did stuff like this, she said, "but now a bunch of people are," adding she has noticed more people picking up debris at the park.

Cape Girardeau Central Middle School faculty Diana Valleroy oversees the cleanup initiative.

"Last year, we had a group do litter pickup down at the riverfront, but this is the first group that has continued on with it," she said.

Valleroy was unsure of the volume of trash collected by the group so far, but Knupp said she usually collects three to four shopping bags of debris each time she visits.

Womack said the group originally wanted to place recycling bins at the park, but found out bins already existed. They then switched gears to cleaning up the riverfront in downtown Cape Girardeau, but were told somebody already takes care of the debris pickup there. It was decided Capaha Park would be the final choice.

"Because it's really dirty every time we come," Womack said. "We walk here all the time. There's still a lot of trash every time we come, but there aren't big messes like there used to be."

The group only canceled the cleaning time once, during heavy snow, she said. But other than that, they've stuck with it rain or shine.

Solis said, "We just bundle up if it is cold."

Womack said in the future, more days could be added to the once-a-month schedule, if interest picks up.

More information can be found on the group's Facebook page.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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