In its first active semester at Cerritos College, the Kinesiology Club is getting a running start in doing what it can to help out Cerritos College and the community.

The project is called, “Keep Our Campus Clean,” and it is aimed at beautifying the campus and making students more aware of the trash problem in our parking lots.

The club has been out in parking lot C-10 every Friday morning at 7 a.m., picking up trash that has been left by litterbugs.

Coach Debbie Jensen, adviser of the Kinesiology Club, says they have two major objectives in the Keep Our Campus Clean project.

“We have two objectives for awareness. It is to bring awareness to the litter problem on campus. The other one is that we don’t have enough custodians to clean our campus, so let’s help out. I think it’s embarrassing that custodians have to pick up our trash when the students can just maintain that themselves.

Vivana Vasquez, Vice President of the Kinesiology Club and Kinesiology major, says that student response has been good.

“We have people, not just from our club come and help out. At least 15 (people come out) every Friday, which is enough to get some progression. So far it’s been looking pretty good.

According to Vasquez, last week the club picked up 5 bags of trash over a span of two hours. The litter consisted of a variety of things, including alcohol bottles and diapers.

The school has a fewer amount of custodians on staff due to budget cuts, but Coach Jensen, believes that is no excuse for students to throw their trash on the ground.

 “People just throw their trash right on the ground,” Coach Jensen says. “There’s trash cans out there, and even if they weren’t, you don’t just drop your trash anywhere. Why do our students think that’s okay? To not have a guilty conscience really bothers me, and it bothers our students.”

In addition to the Keep Our Campus Clean project, the Kinesiology club is currently holding it’s first Semi-Annual Old Running Shoe Drive from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18.

The shoes are being collected from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Physical Education office and it will also be accepting shoes at this Thursday’s Turkey Trot on the Quad.

Vasquez says that the shoes that are deemed reusable will be donated to needy students on Paramount High School’s Track and Field team, while the rest will be melted down and used for such things as playgrounds, running tracks, and artificial fields for schools.

The club has also worked with Project Hope to donate a Christmas gift for needy child named Requal Begay.

It doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Jensen says that the motivation behind the clubs community work is based behind one key idea.

“You have to have pride in your campus.”