What started out as a senior project for University of Hartford student and East Windsor resident, Chris Spada, has become a full blown community service event for the town of East Windsor. A major clean up was held across the street from East Windsor Park on a recent sunny Saturday morning.

Spada is majoring in Visual Communications at UHA, and his class-work there had a requirement to come up with a senior project with a focus on the community. He created a Web site, t-shirts and marketing materials for “Keep It Green.” Only Spada’s project, among his classmates, came alive with the occurrence of an actual event.

About 25 teenagers came out on Saturday , March 28 to clean up town property . This land, which used to be tobacco fields, has been long neglected and has unfortunately become a dumping ground for all kinds of unwanted trash and debris.

Michael Mosher, an Integrated Science teacher at East Windsor High School, brought out the kids with only two day’s notice and felt that he would have no trouble getting even more to come out for the next event on April 4. “They really want to do good,” he said about his students. “It’s big for them because it’s doable,” he added.

Several piled up truck-loads were driven out to a waiting dumpster, which was three quarters filled only an hour into the project. Everyone who was there to clean up was clearly excited to be doing something so clearly good for the town.

Christine Schwartz brought out her son to the event to help. She had heard about the event through the local newspapers . “This is fantastic,” she said. She is also a strong supporter of creating a dog park on the location. “People I know won’t bring their dogs here. They are afraid they will step on glass. Just seeing the trash coming out of here – it’s disgusting,” said Schwartz.

Spada hopes to continue to make a difference. “I plan on keeping this effort going by maintaining a relationship with the teachers at the school. From the initial support I received from the community, the project has a ton of potential ,” he said. He feels the whole concept is so easy to use, he would like some of the local teens to really take it as their own. “I would really like to see high school students be able to run the different parts of this project.” Spada’s eyes are looking around town and seeing other places that need some cleanup . “There are still quite a few clean up zones that I’d personally like to see addressed ,” he said.

The BMX Skateboard Park has been looking at the land for the location, as well.

What the teens were finding on this property was clearly disquieting to them. Ashley and Krystal found a toilet seat, a window, a vacuum, a TV, two couches and even a trampoline. Another student, Jillian, said, “It’s really bad,” about what they were finding in the bramble. But they all agreed it made them feel good to help out. They will be receiving community service hours.

Several hazardous waste items were pulled out of the land too, such as chlorine cans, motor oil and paint cans. “Is it absolutely disturbing that people think that it’s appropriate to leave that stuff in the forest,” he said.

More information can be found at www.keepitgreen-ew .org. Spada hopes that his model can be utilized by other local areas to run their own “keep it green” events. He hopes, ultimately, to pass on the organization in large part to East Windsor high school students who are interested in the environment and their home town.