UTSA Resident and Faculty Parking Lot Clean UpOn the day of the project, workers meet at 8:00 am at the front of the rec. Bundled against the rain and cold, they gulped down the hot chocolate provided by the project leaders, and set to

work cleaning the lots. Due to the nature of the weather and the amount of soggy debris in and around the lots, all workers diligently cleaned the lots until nearly 11:00 am.

Project PurposeThe purpose of our project was to promote cleanliness of UTSA parking areas with high traffic totals (San Saba Lot, Laurel/Chaparral Lot, and Convocation/Recreation Center Lot). Our goal was to eliminate trash and debris spread across the UTSA main campus primary commuter and housing parking lots.

Target AudienceThe target audience of this cleanup was the UTSA public as well as the student body and faculty. This project benefited UTSA in large by promoting campus cleanliness; enhancing our public image to visitors while boosting the moral and pride of the UTSA body.

VolunteersWe drew members and volunteers from two campus organizations for assistance in this project; the UTSA Terry Scholar Student Organization and the UTSA Ambassadors. We chose these groups because the project team members are part of one or both of these organizations. In order to facilitate timelines and effectiveness, a target of 8 additional volunteers was set. Because the team members were active in these organizations and both shared equal values, we knew we could count on them to do their best to benefit the university and the community.

Criteria for SuccessOur project’s criteria for success read as follows:•At least six (6) participants including team members show up and stay for the duration of the cleanup project•All parking lots and surrounding areas have been cleaned of trash and debris in the allotted time•The project time set was sufficient enough in the fact that there were few enough vehicles for the best possible area wide cleanup

ProcedureOur group acquired the required six (6) volunteers and began the project at 8am on Saturday, November15th. Each participant was given a trash bag and a set of gloves and assigned a row in the parking lot which was being cleaned. The lots were tackled in order of listing: Recreation, Convocation, San Saba, Laurel/Chap. The same approach was taken with each lot with the two groups leaders going in opposite directions at the head of the lot covering the boundaries and greenways surrounding each lot and each volunteer walking their own row in the lot with each member meeting at the center of the lot once completed. Once the members completed a lot the entire group would walk the lot together for a final examination of cleanliness and when done the next lot would be addressed.

Assessment of ResultsFollowing these criteria, all objectives were met and surpassed. The project garnered the required six (6) volunteers consisting of friends and classmates which all stayed for the duration of the project. Even though it is hard to determine if ALL trash was cleaned from the targeted lots, from our perspective excess and visible trash was eliminated. Initially the project time was set for a Friday date at 9pm, but after a weekend observation of lot traffic it was determined that a Saturday morning time of 8:00 am for the cleanup would yield even less traffic than a Friday night as well as promoting the safety of volunteers which would be subject to nightlife travelers on a busy Friday night.

More pictures were taken later to show how nice the lots and surrounding greenways looked after the clean up project. Twelve full bags of trash were gathered in total, equaling to nearly a hundred pounds of trash overall. The ditches and drainage areas surrounding the lots looked especially good once they had been cleared of the plastic and other trash that had been washed into them by the recent rains.

On the following days, more pictures were taken of the surrounding lots in order to assess the cleanliness of the other campus lots, and compare them to the lots that were affected by the project.

Our project was a success because of three specific areas which are environmental, organization, and participant behavior.

On the date of the project, Saturday, November 15th, temperatures ranged between 35 and 40 degrees so it was no easy task in fighting the cold to get our project done. The temperature sped up the project though because our volunteers were cold and damp and wanted to get out of the terrible. Since our group performed the project in the cold weather which no one wanted to be in, it also improved awareness because we were the only people crazy enough to be on campus, on a Saturday, in the terrible weather.

The organization of our project was also a very beneficial to the operation of our cleanup. We followed a decentralized, simple structure with Alan Littman and Sal Soto serving as leaders for three volunteers each, but responsibility did not rest primarily on us as leaders. Each volunteer was responsible for their specific area and if their area was not taken care of it would fall solely on them, not the leaders. We wanted volunteers to feel responsible for their area not only for performance, but for gratification. The gratification that each volunteer would feel from being part of the cleanup and betterment of their university would be a driving factor for our project.

When the temperature outside is below 40 degrees and it is drizzling not many people are willing to spend any time outside, much less partake in a service project, but our participants were supportive and. Our participants were on time and ready to work when they arrived and performed their tasks efficiently. Where you would think the weather would crush the spirit of our volunteers, who had no idea what conditions were going to be like when they volunteered, it actually increased productivity through a sense of duty to the project goal and great attitude towards the conditions as if there was nothing abrasive about the weather that day. Once the tasks were completed, volunteers received intrinsic rewards from the service they provided to their university. The level of organizational commitment and cohesiveness displayed by our project team elevated the effectiveness of our cleanup.

Observing the situational model of leadership while setting standards and procedures for our volunteers, we followed an entrusting style of leadership. Our participants held a high level of readiness and ability from the confidence they had in themselves and received from their leaders. This level of confidence eased the process of our project by enabling each member of the group functioning on their own in their own way. Structure was not vital to our project, we depended almost entirely on the individual work provided by our volunteers. Attitude was a great factor in the success of our project with our group focusing on the task and making the most of the day while considering the weather a non-factor.