Making TCU One Shade Greener
by Mark Sayegh, TCU Pre-Health student, Founder of One Shade Greener
As the founder of One Shade Greener, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to watch this organization grow beyond anything I could have imagined when I started it four years ago in high school. What began as a simple initiative to clean up local parks in Austin has transformed into a multi-chapter, student-led movement aimed at promoting sustainability and making meaningful impacts in communities across Texas and Tennessee.
What We Do on Campus
Our work at One Shade Greener focuses on tangible, impactful action, especially within our campus chapters.
One of the primary ways we engage with students is through regular community clean-up events. We work with the City of Fort Worth to choose certain parks, lakes or community areas to clean. We have hosted over 400 different students last year and have cleaned up a total of 11,000 pounds of trash in the last two years. The clean-ups are not just about picking up litter; they are about creating a deeper connection between students and their community, giving them the opportunity to see how small actions can lead to significant change.
Additionally, we’ve expanded our initiatives to address the food insecurity crisis in Fort Worth. We aim to promote food sustainability through our partnership with local elementary schools that reside in prominent Food Deserts. We develop vegetable gardens where we teach students how to garden, the importance of eating healthy, and the importance of being sustainable with their food. We volunteer monthly with these students– and all the produce goes straight back to them and their families. These gardens not only provide nutritious food but also serve as living classrooms. This allows students to, at a young age, feel a sense of purpose as they grow their own food which will hopefully inspire them to continue a journey of gardening and eating healthy.
Our Plans for This Year
This year, we plan to expand our reach, both on campus and within the community. Here are a few things we’re excited about for the upcoming year:
1. More Clean-Ups, More Campus Collaborations, More Impact: We’re organizing even more clean-up events this year, with a goal of collecting 2,500 pounds of trash by the end of the school year. We plan to continue to find new organizations to partner with in order to allow new students to volunteer in the community with us. Please reach out if you are interested in partnering!
2. Vegetable Garden Initiatives Expansion: Building on the success of our established vegetable gardens at local elementary schools, we plan on expanding this program to more schools in Fort Worth and organizations. We plan on including more education and reaching a bigger audience with our food sustainability initiatives.
3. Recycling on Campus: We have been working closely with our SGA and TCU football program to implement recycling programs to reduce the amount of waste that is being produced and to ensure we have a more beautiful and sustainable campus!
I am so grateful for every single one of our volunteers and all the support we have received. It has been a blessing to see the impact we have been able to make at TCU. I am excited to keep working and make TCU One Shade Greener!!