Florida A&M University recycled its competitors, Florida State University, in CANpaign 2007.
The CANpaign, a recycling effort put on by the city of Tallahassee, ended with FAMU collecting 154.6 pounds of cans.
Anja Deloach, recycling and special services coordinator of solid waste services for Tallahassee said the competition participants collected approximately 4,300 pounds of cans.
Deloach also said that a possible awards function was in the works for the various category winners. However, if this were done it would take place at a city commissions meeting.
Category winners included Chaires Elementary, which collected 410 pounds, Raa Middle, which collected 54.2 pounds and Lawton Chiles High, which collected 228.2 pounds. In the private school category, Magnolia beat its competitors by collecting 157.6 pounds.
However, it was the Environmental Science Student Organization that brought home a win for FAMU.
According to Deloach, ESSO collected 53.4 pounds. The number of cans will be multiplied by 40 cents per pound, which the city will match, giving ESSO a total of $42.72 in cash prize.
Jacqueline Hightower, advisor of ESSO, was extremely elated at the organization’s win.
“To say excited [is an understatement], I’m proud,” Hightower said. “I feel excited that the student organization is going to get recognition for such important work as preserving the environment.”
The organization’s advisor said ESSO entered the competition with the mindset of furthering environmental awareness throughout the community.
“We are one of the environmental groups on campus,” Hightower said. “Our [ESSO] mission involves leadership outreach for the community. We are modeling what we want the community to follow.”
Hightower said ESSO’s FAMU members collected cans for the competition, however most of the credit is given to the members of the Hartsfield Village community.
“The winning contribution came from members of the community, especially Geneva Walker of Hartsfield Village,” Hightower said. “We asked them [Hartsfield] to save cans and Geneva Walker provided forty or more cans to ESSO to help us win.”
As for the prize money, Hightower said it would go into funds to continue the organization’s outreach programs. Programs like ESSO’s education outreach will gain additional material and funding as a result of them winning the competition.
LaRae Donnellan, co-chair of FAMU’s Green Coalition, which placed second behind ESSO, was very happy with ESSO’s placement in the competition.
“I think it’s great that they won,” Donnellan said. “They worked really hard.”
Donnellan added she was not surprised by ESSO’s win but felt that it would have been better if more people had participated.
The Coalition’s co-chair, went further to say that ESSO was one of the founding members of the Green Coalition, therefore both organizations were winners.
The Green Coalition, Donnellan said, is currently working on developing recycling programs at FAMU; however, she said that it was somewhat of a challenge.
“The president [Ammons] says he wants it, but many people that need to be involved in making it happen are not yet persuaded that it’s something they should do, that it’s a part of their jobs,” she said.
Hightower also had similar sentiments regarding environmental awareness on campus.
“A university this large has a long way to go in getting people to embrace the environment,” she said. “We hope next year we’ll be able to get the university involved in more of these activities.”
Hightower said ESSO is also working on more creative ways to contribute to the upliftment of the environment.
“It’s not somebody else’s responsibility, it’s everybody’s,” Hightower said. “We want FAMU to be recognized for what we do. We want to take a leadership role in the community.”
Hightower said that ESSO’s win was a good beginning, and next year they would do much better.
A third CANpaign may be a possibility next year. However, Deloach said that it depends on various things.
“We may be doing it next year,” Deloach said. “But it depends on tax cuts and situations like that. If we do we’ll let folks know in the spring so they can get a head start.”