A Better Campus: Tech Beautification Day

Spring is on its way, but between mid-semester classes, projects, tests and papers, who has time to stop and smell the flowers?

Taken literally, that is exactly what the organizers of this year's Tech Beautification Day (TBD) hope to change.

TBD was started in 1997 by the Freshman Council in order to engage everyone at Tech in hands-on initiatives that serve to improve the campus grounds.

TBD has since developed into a much larger affair than was originally planned. It now involves hundreds of people coming together one spring morning to improve the look and feel of a campus whose visual appeal is often marred by orange construction cranes and the smog and noise pollution of a downtown Atlanta location.

"[TBD] quickly grew in scope and popularity and it now takes a 20 member executive board planning all year to put it all together," said Leslie Myles, an Industrial Engineering major who chaired this year's effort to organize TBD.

Volunteers for TBD participate in a number of projects around campus, ranging from planting flowers at strategic corners to pressure washing areas which seem to need it-projects that improve the aesthetics as well as the environment at Tech.

"This year is our tenth anniversary and we are working closely with the Earth Day [planners]. Now the partnership of our two events has grown into a week of activities under the name Think Green Week," Myles said.

Myles also said that another focus of this year's efforts is to attract faculty, staff and alumni to get involved in the projects in order to create a sense of community. Their numbers will be added to the 1000 or so annual, non-Tech affiliated volunteers who show up as a result of TBD's partnership with Hands on Atlanta.

"Through activities with the Alumni Association and specific tenth year anniversary [activities] geared towards departments, we hope to have a greater presence from these groups this year," Myles said.

Sheliza Bhanjee, a second-year Psychology major, has been involved with TBD for the past two years and said that the event has provided her with an opportunity to be involved with the environment as well as to gain a leadership position through her role as a project coordinator.

"I think [the campus environment] needs a lot of work. People need to recycle more regularly. I think [students] should be more conscious about certain environmental [practices] like not throwing cigarette butts everywhere. About recycling, people just need to be more aware of what they're doing with [simple practices] like recycling the 'Nique instead of throwing it away," Bhanjee said.

Although TBD has generally been successful in mobilizing both the campus and outside communities in its beautification efforts at Tech, not everything has always come up roses for the group.

Bhanjee spoke about one difficult, albeit ultimately fulfilling past experience as a TBD project coordinator.

"Last year, it rained on [TBD]. Everything was soggy and so people weren't always enthusiastic about doing their project. Of the people who signed up to volunteer in my group, only one person showed up. We were planting flowers near the Centennial Research Building. Even though it was soggy and raining, we did a good job and were proud of ourselves," Bhanjee said.

Myles also spoke positively of her experiences with TBD.

"I got involved [with TBD] and stayed involved for [two main reasons]. It's an extremely gratifying feeling to be able to walk by the work that you have done and see the difference it makes. TBD projects are a great way to share that feeling with other students who might feel a little underappreciated and overworked at Tech," Myles said.

"Secondly, it bothered me a lot when I read that Tech's campus was rated one of the ugliest [campuses in the U.S.], since I actually think we have a great campus. So I thought getting involved in TBD might be a good way to help alter that opinion," Myles said.

Students looking to get involved with TBD are welcome to check out www.techbeautificationday.org.

The event will be held April 21 this year. Applications for project coordinator were due Feb. 23.