Earth Day
On April 22nd, Global UGRAD students participated in various activities around the United States to celebrate Earth Day. Students at Saginaw Valley State University joined the Rotary Club of Saginaw Sunrise for a day of cleanup.
“The cleanup was targeting the Great Lakes Bay Region in Michigan and we did some landscaping in an area that needed some cleaning and had trees that needed some trimming as well,” said Anhal Kozhaya, a UGRAD student from Lebanon.
Kozhaya has worked with the club throughout his semester at SVSU and encouraged other students to help with its activities on Earth Day. For him, this involvement has been a way to continue the work he has done with a related organization in his home country.
“I reached out to the Rotary Club of Saginaw Sunrise and connected with them since I am a president of a Rotaract club in my country,” Kozhaya said. “For that reason, I have worked with them on various projects while I was representing my club, Rotaract Beirut Cedars.”
Basma El Kaliouby, a UGRAD student from Egypt attending San Francisco State University this spring, also volunteered on Earth Day. She worked with Alemany Farms, a large farm in the San Francisco area that produces fresh foods, educates the community on local food production, and provides resources to make locally-produced food more accessible.
“It was very nice to meet people who are interested in making our Earth a better sustainable world to live in,” El Kaliouby said.
For Earth Day, volunteers helped put on an event at the farm called Earth Day on the Green. The event included lots of festivities for members of the community to learn about the organization and just have fun in nature.
“There was music, food, merch, and the most important part was planting the lovely vegetables. It was a very nice day,” El Kaliouby said.
Whether trimming trees or planting potatoes, Earth Day provided opportunities for Global UGRAD students to spend time outside, helping and celebrating our natural environment.