by Giancarlo Galarreta
ORLANDO, Fla. – Phi Theta Kappa’s Honor Society chapter at Valencia Community College’s East Campus goes green as it celebrates 91 years since the day it was founded.
Dolores Villar, 19, along with Xiomara McCandele, 20, was in charge of the chapter’s Founder’s Week for 2009. Going green has been an on-going effort for PTK and what better way to reach out to students than by talking about the environment on their anniversary week. Villar and McCandele were both inducted into PTK this past spring.
Jody Goostree, 28, program coordinator for Keep Orlando Beautiful, Inc. (KOB), was brought in by the chapter to speak at Valencia’s East Campus on Monday, November 16th. Goostree has been part of this organization for almost five years now.
Many students are unfamiliar with the organization. Valencia student Ameia Yuse, 21, said, “I haven’t heard of KOB before but I do get involved in the community. I recycle, so I decided to come out and learn a bit more about what I can do for the environment.”
Keep Orlando Beautiful is a non-profit organization administered by the city of Orlando and affiliated to the environmental organization Keep American Beautiful, Inc. KOB has a partnership with PTK that started in 2007.
“Education is a big thing. It’s great to partner with a college, there’s always a good turnout and it’s a good experience,” said Goostree, “People are already in that learning mindset so when I talk about things like the environment I see it getting through students, and they try to get involved.”
KOB has been around for approximately 23 years and has helped the city with issues like recycling and conducts clean-ups in neighborhoods and lakes around the city. The organization has 15 board members, Villar being one of them, and holds a list of about 600 active volunteers.
With the visuals from a power point presentation, Goostree talked about KOB’s mission and what they do for our community and for the environment. The organization has created programs like the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program and the Stop Poo-llution! Campaign, in which they hand out waste bag dispensers for pet owners.
“We do things like set up tents in concerts and talk to people about littering fines,” said Goostree, “We usually hand out pocket ash trays at events like that since we’ve learned that the cigarette bud is the number one litter item in the city.”
Guest speakers like Goostree and organizations like KOB help raise awareness about having a personal effect on the environment.
