The members of the Pre-Health Society (PHS) at Wright State University (WSU) worked alongside members of the community to protect the local environment at PHS’s volunteer trash pick-up event on Tuesday, April 7.
As the calendar approaches Earth Day, PHS turned its focus to cleaning not only the campus, but the woods around it as well. One of the most notable features of the WSU’s campus is its close proximity to forested areas, which are home to many different types of wildlife, from birds to raccoons to small herds of deer.
When asked about why PHS extended the event's focus to the woods, Adaijah Pigman, a co-president of PHS, brought attention to the nature reserves on campus.
“I’m huge on nature, and I’m huge on outdoor recreation. So I think it’s super vital to also keep that space clean for all the wildlife that we have here as well,” Pigman said.
Along with protecting the wildlife, making an effort to protect the environment improves the student body in many ways. When students are touring the WSU Dayton campus, both the architecture and the surrounding grounds can be factors in a student's future school preference.
Landon Perry, a member of PHS, spoke about how the appearance of campus can affect future student intentions.
“Maintaining a clean campus [is] good for newer prospective students," Perry said. "The more people we have come to [WSU], the more awareness we can bring."
The environment as a whole affects everything around it, which is why it is considered in fields such as healthcare and chemistry. PHS focuses on the diverse careers and applications of the healthcare field, which require a study of environmental factors. Depending on where someone lives, they can have drastically different weather conditions or quality resources available to them.
Reagan Steele, a co-president of PHS, spoke about how the development of communities connects the PHS to environmental cleanup efforts.
“Disparities [in health are] really important, and one of the factors is your environment. And by picking up trash, you’re helping keep waterways clean, soil clean and those things indirectly affect the population,” Steele said.
By bringing attention to the world around them, PHS is helping shape future medical professionals with hands-on experiences in addition to more traditional academic studies.
When asked about other efforts to maintain the environment at WSU, Perry spoke about protocols in his chemistry classes, using his experience as a transfer student.
“At the University of Cincinnati, they never said anything about [green chemistry, or] environmentally-safe chemistry, but we’re focused on that here, especially in organic chemistry,” Perry said.
PHS is dedicated to creating an environment that betters the health of everyone on campus, while providing students with the chance to have hands-on volunteer experience.
If your interest is piqued by PHS and their environmental stances, contact PHS Co-Presidents Adaijah Pigman and Reagan Steele at pigman.5@wright.edu and steele.136@wright.edu for more information.
