Greenkeepers Works to Keep Campus Clean

Greenkeepers is an environmental honors society at SHC, and members of this club work
toward keeping Mobile clean, starting with the Spring Hill College campus.

Members of Greenkeepers volunteer hours of their day to clean up the campus and discover
other ways to make SHC more environmentally friendly. As an initiative to join the club,
Greenkeepers allows members to have the opportunity to earn a cord or stole to wear at
graduation. To earn a chord, a member must commit anywhere from 40 to 120 hours depending
on grade level. These hours can be acquired by attending meetings and completing service
hours.

Although Greenkeepers may not be very well-known around campus, it is not a new club. It has
been around for years but fell under the radar around the same time that COVID-19 shut down
campus in March 2020. In September 2020, SHC alumni Reese Lebbing and Lizzie Barrios re-
introduced Greenkeepers and campus cleanups. The club did not receive the necessary
attention at the time. Current Greenkeepers president Joseph Studt said he still struggles with
student engagement. He attributed this struggle to the fact that cleanups are often scheduled for
Sunday mornings.

SHC sophomore Jack Robinson claimed to have never heard of Greenkeepers until recently.
“Greenkeepers does not seem to be widely advertised around campus,” said Robinson. “Maybe
if we could get some announcements in the caf or emails to show how we can support or
volunteer, that would be a good way to get it going,” said Robinson.

There are currently about 40 active members; only about six members continue to frequently
participate. Studt plans to partner with SHC’s Student Government Association in the future to
increase involvement and productivity. “If we can get more people to start showing up to other
events besides just cleanups, we’ll have a great turnout with the club,” said Studt.

Studt also looks forward to introduving a new compost system to the cafeteria during the 2023-
2024 school year. Food waste from the cafeteria would be turned into compost, and the
compost would be made into soil, which would then be put toward Studt’s next initiative to
create a campus garden.

Members of Greenkeepers hope to inspire others to work together to make SHC the campus
students deserve. Studt said, “A big reason that we haven’t been doing a lot of campus
cleanups this semester is because we were doing them like every other week, and it just kept
getting messier and messier. So, that is something we would like students to be more aware
of…is making sure that trash goes into the waste receptacles and that the burden isn’t placed
on just certain members of the campus community that want to make this campus a more
beautiful place. But rather, let’s make this a community effort to make Spring Hill a more
beautiful place”
All students at SHC are welcome to join Greenkeepers. The amount of time you dedicate to the
club is completely up to you.

For more information or to ask any questions regarding the club, contact
joseph.p.studt@email.shc.edu or visit Instagram @shc.greenkeepers.