By Jaimie Lee

KYCC Bridge Historian

On April 6, students from KYCC’s Middle School Program (MSP) volunteered to sweep and pick up trash around the Koreatown neighborhood in order to help our community shine a little bit brighter.

The project was initiated by MSP students. With the support of KYCC’s Environmental Services unit, the project came to life. Environmental Services helped plan and facilitate the event, which included tree planting and graffiti removal, in order to keep our community happy and healthy. Recently, MSP students have been collaborating with Environmental Services Unit to become more involved with community service.

SeHwa Yoon, KYCC Environmental Services Volunteer Specialist, led the cleanup and supervised our youth, providing them with all the necessary equipment, including gloves, garbage bags, brooms, rakes, and shovels. The students were then split into teams in order to make the process easy and efficient. All students worked hard and did their best to help out. Within the span of an hour and a half, they were able to clean up blocks around KYCC, specifically those around Wilshire and Western.

This excursion showed these youth the importance of volunteering and protecting the environment. It also helped build teamwork skills and foster a greater sense of community. When the students were asked if they enjoyed their experience, they all answered with an enthusiastic “YES!” Needless to say, they are all excited to participate in the next community event.