EDMOND—On February 28, 24 members of Armstrong Club helped beautify the roads surrounding the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, collecting and disposing of accumulated litter, trimming vegetation, and moving rocks.

Along with club director Wayne Turgeon, who is also the Buildings and Grounds department head, the men collected around 200 pounds of trash, much of which had accumulated during 40-mph winds the day prior and earlier that morning.

“Having that goal of making God’s property cleaner through the trash pickup also helped in building the unity of AC men,” sophomore Gino Chi said.

While one group collected the trash, another used pick axes and pickup trucks to remove large rocks from several areas around campus to clear access for mowers near ravines. The volunteers’ labor alleviates the need for landscaping crews to spend hours in these areas using string trimmers.

“It was nice to be able to mix and mingle with other classes and to be able to work outside on such a beautiful day,” Senior Justin Yocum, the club’s vice president, said. “I think we were able to build good comradery through working together. Nothing builds unity between men like getting your hands dirty and lifting heavy things.”

During the two-hour project, one of the campus’s neighbors, the wife of the property’s original owner, chatted with the volunteers and thanked them, saying she had felt that the roadside needed to be cleaned for quite a while and that it would look a lot nicer for visitors who were driving in for a concert at Armstrong Auditorium.

Freshman George Haddad said, “Overall, a lot of work was accomplished, and the working brotherhood was strong.”