Adopt-A-Highway: One Step at a Time

by Brenna Yingling & Maria Elser

Each year, Delone Catholic’s Interact Club hosts the Adopt-A-Highway event as part of the Pennsylvania state-wide initiative. Adopt-A-Highway involves picking up trash and other debris along roadways throughout the state.

Delone Catholic has participated for 15 years by cleaning a stretch of Route 194 toward Littlestown. Mrs. Marrocco, moderator of the Interact Club, was in charge of this well-attended event. Participants of Adopt-A-Highway are required to walk along the sides of the highway in groups with trash bags, gloves, and trash pickers.

Clean-up usually occurs twice a year; once in the fall and once in the spring. This is also one of the many service opportunities in which members of the club can participate.

One participant, Freshman Sophie Strickler, shared some of her findings and experiences from this year’s Adopt-A-Highway.

“It was a great experience to feel like I played a part in the environment’s health.”

Freshman Abbey Welsh, who also attended the event, said, “I hope by seeing us doing this, people will realize how destructive their waste can be on the environment.”

The goal of this project is to help to support the environment and to teach others about the harmful effects of littering. Littering is a serious problem that continues to impact many communities in the area. Litter can appear as a food source to many animals and it can harm them if they consume it.

Diana Biesecker, a Junior, said, “Getting teens involved in the environment now changes the way they see the world and they will be more likely to want to make an impact throughout the rest of their lives. The environment is our home, so we should take care of it to the best of our capability.”

By cleaning up even just one highway, the Interact Club continues to help the local community and environment in a meaningful and relevant way.

Interact Club President and Senior, CJ Hoffman, added, “Interact is a club that gets out into the community and does the jobs that some people may not want to do. That is why we need to do Adopt-A-Highway because if we don’t, then who will?”