 "Photo: Eliot Meyer")
About 2,000 UT students spent most of Saturday picking up trash, shredding tree limbs and planting gardens in East Austin.
Busloads of audacious volunteers were dropped off at Allison Elementary School, the base camp for the Project 2008 community beautification event. The school is one of four sites on Montopolis Street where students volunteered. In addition to outdoor landscaping, students painted the interior and exterior of St. Edwards and Buenas Nuevas churches, and planted a native Texas garden at the school.
Project 2008 has partnered with Keep Austin Beautiful since 1999. The project has won local and statewide awards, and earned the Keep Austin Beautiful National Award for Community Improvement in 2000.
Many of the students said they are more concerned with making the world a better place than the project's accolades.
Engineering senior Tim Shin served as a team leader for this year's project. Shin said he loves helping people and thinks this project is a good way to do that.
"It's more than just something you put on your resume," Shin said. "Steps like this lead to a better community and hopefully a better global community."
Teachers at the school worked alongside UT volunteers, tilling and planting a wildlife garden for the children.
Lanie McCormick, an art teacher at Allison Elementary School, said she was elated by the help from UT students.
"The wildlife garden will give us an opportunity to give the students hands-on learning," McCormick said. "The light bulbs just flash in the kids' heads when they can see and feel it."
Advertising senior Ravi Naik has been organizing Project 2008 since last March. He said he likes teaching UT students that there is a whole world beyond the UT campus.
"It feels good to help, but it feels better when I see the volunteers and committee members having a good time," Naik said.
Community members looked on curiously at the bustling environment of enthusiastic volunteers Saturday.
Sarah Martinez, who lives across the street from the school, said that this type of work is crucial for the development of the commonwealth.
"Our kids' education depends on the care provided by the community," Martinez said.
Shin and several other students took a short break from picking up trash to perform some jazz songs at Saturday's community fair at Allison Elementary School.
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