Berry freshmen learn about Rome, Floyd County at work day
A history of working together has many ben-efits, for area colleges as well as the community
In June of 2017, Berry graduate Emma Wells began working for the Rome-Floyd E.C.O. Center in Rome as a biologist and education coordinator. As part of her job, she leads trail cleanups and raises local environmental awareness in addition to planning and marketing events.
Saturday, as a part of Berry College’s First Year Service Day, Wells met a group of college freshmen at Kingfisher Trail located at the corner of Broad and Branham. of Broad and Branham.
“The Etowah, the Coosa and the Oostanaula rivers are all in Rome, that’s why we’re called E.C.O Center, because there's a confluent in Rome,” Wells explained to the group of volunteers. “You can even see here where two different rivers collide, the Oostanaula and the Etowah to form the Coosa.”
Armed with gloves, trash grabbers and bug spray the students began walking along the trail paralleling the Etowah and picking up any trash they saw. During her introduction to the group, Wells was able to explain the significance of the Coosa River Basin to the greater community of Rome.
“[In terms of species diversity], the Coosa River Basin is second only to the Amazon River Basin. There are many endemic species, which means they only live in this area,” Wells said. “So it’s really important you guys are picking up trash and we’re keeping all of that waste out of our rivers. It’s actually making a difference.”
Wells works for the E.C.O. Center, but also works closely with Keep RomeFloyd Beautiful for nature clean ups and caring for areas in Rome that need better treatment.
Victor Bissonnette, the Berry College faculty member in charge of this group of freshmen, was one of the first ones on sight and was picking up trash alongside students. As an associate professor of psychology, Bissonnette has been involved in First Year Service Day for the past nineteen years of his career at Berry.
“I think it’s good service. On the surface it’s mundane work. It seems silly to go out and have college students out picking up trash. But there really is a deeper purpose,” Bissonnette said as he walked along the trail with his own trash grabber.
“You know, one time my students said, ‘How can we make a difference since there’s so few of us?’ What I try to impress on them is if you do anything, anything at all, even the slightest thing, you’ve done something more than nothing, so you have, in fact, made a difference.”
Berry students worked throughout Rome, including bathing dogs at the Public Animal Welfare Service at 99 North Ave. as well as assisting with an End Slavery Georgia fundraiser.