Olivia Chilcote

HUMA-1010
27 April 2021
Civic Engagement Project Reflection
For my civic engagement project I chose to pick up trash in my neighborhood. I

completed this Saturday, April 17 and participated for a little over an hour. This is usually

something that my neighborhood has to put together in the past, but this year I could not find any

information on it. I chose to do it myself since they were not doing it this year and felt I could

still participate and contribute on my own. I enjoyed doing this project because of how clean the

area and bushes looked. So much garbage was trapped in the twigs of dead bushes and against

houses. It disgusted me at how much people just leave on the ground and let get blown away. I

was glad to do this for my project and help clean up a little bit.

The theme I connected to my civic project was our Early Government Structures.

module. In this module we discussed the relationship between an individual and society. In the

module it defined civic duty and responsibility as follows: “While a civic duty is required by

law, a civic responsibility is not necessarily required by law. But a civil responsibility is stressed

as a socially good behavior to perform.” (Francis) I felt helping to take care of my community

was part of my civic duty to society, the environment, and my neighborhood/city. It is not

required by us by law, although there are laws about littering, cleaning up trash is something

each of us can help with. My activity gave me a chance to help and be a part of my community

and participate in the well-being of it. The other thing I connected it to was the Experimentation

through the Arts modules. What stood out to me in this the most specifically was Landscape

Romanticism. They wanted to focus on nature and landscape, as “It was also an attempt in art to
escape growing industrialization.” (Fiero) The outdoors should be something beautiful to look at,

not covered in trash. Our growing industrialization has contributed to the litter that covers the

earth. It’s important that we take care of it now, so we can still produce art featuring its natural

beauty.

I did feel more responsible as a citizen and resident of my area. I felt like I was helping

take care of and respect my neighborhood and environment. It was not affected much by Covid-

19, since I was doing it myself. If anyway it was affected, it may be why I could not find any

information on the neighborhood putting it together this year. It used to be a yearly thing I

participated in, but I have not the past couple of years. I’m not sure if they stopped doing it or it

was cancelled this year due to Covid-19. I do think what I did was positive for the community. I

picked up trash and helped the small area I covered look cleaner. Many people go on runs, ride

bikes, and do other passing by activity in the area, so it could also help with that. It could help

the passersby feel more peace of mind not seeing our neighborhood full of trash and garbage,

even if it was just a small section. People want to be able to go outside and enjoy the fresh air

and what they see. I find this difficult when walking by and seeing litter and trash every few feet.

Right now, especially with everything that has been going on in the past year, people shouldn’t

have to worry about trash and little things. Picking up the environment made me feel a little

better about our world.

 Works Cited

Francis. “Civic Engagement Defined .” SLCC Instructure, 2021,

slcc.instructure.com/courses/611121/assignments/8800581?module_item_id=13911515.

Fiero, Gloria K. Landmarks in Humanities. McGraw-Hill Education/Create, 2015.