Williston, N.D., May 1st__Students, staff and faculty gathered together April 22nd to clean up Williston State College's campus.  "I was not quite sure what to expect when putting this together," Tara Weltikol, WSC Student Life Coordinator, explained. "It was something that was recommended to our Student Senate in our monthly North Dakota Student Association (NDSA) meeting." NDSA advocates for the 48,000 + college students from the 11 higher education institutions in North Dakota. "I know it was a lot to ask of people to give up their time on a busy day," Weltikol stated. "The last thing I was really expecting was for people to want to clean up if they had a spare couple of minutes."

For the five hours, participates signed-in and were directed to a location to clean. Upon returning volunteers would sign-out and their time would be calculated. With over 50 participates, WSC had a total of thirty hours and one minute spent cleaning up Williston State College. "We were at twenty-hours before the athletic department got involved.  Their efforts pushed us over that thirty hours," Weltikol explained. "For a small two-year campus, I was blown away by our involvement, I did not expect this much time and that we would be able to clean the whole campus."

Environmental change has been a theme with Student Senate this year.  Earth Days success showcased WSC Student Senate's efforts. Throughout the year they have been trying to setup a recycling program for WSC. "It is a process to set up something like that here on campus.  We don't have a lot of resources available to recycle, but Student Senate's interest has caused the wheels to start to turn," Weltikol stated. "People have taken notice, Heather Fink my supervisor has taken it upon herself to go and talk with people about trying to get recycling on campus." The hope is to carry this goal into the next year and maintain an active and good group in Student Senate to ensure its completion.

For more information, contact Tara Weltikol at 701.774.4213
for other information regarding Williston State, visit www.willistonstate.edu, call 1.888.863.9455, or stop by 1410 University Avenue, Williston, ND.