Step Forward Day Recap: Cross Country/Track
9/10/2019 8:53:00 AM | Cross Country, Track
MALIBU, California --Â The 31st annual Step Forward Day was celebrated at Pepperdine on Saturday (Sept. 7), and the Waves' athletic teams were out in full force serving the community.
Thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, as well as dozens of campus organizations, including classes, dorms, fraternities, sororities, and clubs, came together to assist nonprofit organizations, schools, churches and parks throughout Southern California.
Step Forward Day began in 1988 when two Pepperdine students recognized the need for volunteers in the local community and sought to encourage service among their peers. The projects began as small acts of service from helping to repair homes of local senior citizens to planting gardens at Webster Elementary School. Today the annual event has grown not only across Southern California, but also to communities nationwide as Pepperdine alumni step forward to help.
The cross country and track teams visited nearby Legacy Park for a day of cleanup, as described by sophomore runner Karl Winter:
The cross country team began Saturday quite early in the morning, as we had practice at 6:00 a.m. off campus. We completed our weekly long run and then headed back to campus to arrive for our 8:30 a.m. check-in time. We joined our teammates from the sprints group. The folks at the Pepperdine Volunteer Center provided us with shirts and some breakfast, we met briefly with President Jim Gash, and then we were on our way to our 2019 Step Forward Day experience.
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After dropping off another group at the Malibu Jewish Center, our bus traveled to nearby Legacy Park. We met several people there who worked (or volunteered) for the City of Malibu. After a few minutes of instruction from our site director, we pulled on gardening gloves and got to work.
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Our job was to help clear the park of invasive species. We identified black mustard, the plant with small yellow flowers, and Russian thistle, a thick growth that sometimes resembles tumbleweed. We moved around to different parts of the park, pulling all of the mustard and thistle that we could find while also making sure to not pull any native plants. Over the course of about 90 minutes, we filled about 30 large trash bags with black mustard that we had pulled.
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It was warm outside and each member of our team was certainly a bit dirty by the end, but the work was satisfying and enjoyable because we were working with our friends and such nice people. After filling all of the trash bags that we had with mustard and thistle, we switched to a new task: collecting primrose seeds. The City of Malibu workers gave each team member a small brown paper bag and showed us how to identify primrose seed pods that were ripe for collection, and how to pick them without damaging the plant. We set about collecting as many primrose seed capsules as we could, so that the city can grow these native plants elsewhere in the future.
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Finally, we returned to campus on the bus, singing and laughing all the way, enjoyed some time (and food) with other students at Alumni Park, and watched the Waves of Flags display.
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Step Forward Day is always an important way for Pepperdine to serve and embrace our local community. The objective is not for all of us to feel good about ourselves for a day, but to buy into a heart of service, to give back to the community that gives so much to us, and to simply help some people and groups that could use a hand. This year's experience was important for us because we were able to partake in an effort that keeps our city healthy and clean. Malibu is a beautiful place under any circumstances, and we are blessed to live here, but it takes work to keep the city beautiful and thriving. "Beautifying" Legacy Park allowed us to give back to a city that supports our school and to keep our home ecologically healthy. We were able to see how much can accomplished when so many people work towards the same goal, which is an important value for our team and also for the lives of purpose, service, and leadership that Pepperdine champions, on Step Forward Day and every other day.
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Thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, as well as dozens of campus organizations, including classes, dorms, fraternities, sororities, and clubs, came together to assist nonprofit organizations, schools, churches and parks throughout Southern California.
Step Forward Day began in 1988 when two Pepperdine students recognized the need for volunteers in the local community and sought to encourage service among their peers. The projects began as small acts of service from helping to repair homes of local senior citizens to planting gardens at Webster Elementary School. Today the annual event has grown not only across Southern California, but also to communities nationwide as Pepperdine alumni step forward to help.
The cross country and track teams visited nearby Legacy Park for a day of cleanup, as described by sophomore runner Karl Winter:
The cross country team began Saturday quite early in the morning, as we had practice at 6:00 a.m. off campus. We completed our weekly long run and then headed back to campus to arrive for our 8:30 a.m. check-in time. We joined our teammates from the sprints group. The folks at the Pepperdine Volunteer Center provided us with shirts and some breakfast, we met briefly with President Jim Gash, and then we were on our way to our 2019 Step Forward Day experience.
Â
After dropping off another group at the Malibu Jewish Center, our bus traveled to nearby Legacy Park. We met several people there who worked (or volunteered) for the City of Malibu. After a few minutes of instruction from our site director, we pulled on gardening gloves and got to work.
Â
Our job was to help clear the park of invasive species. We identified black mustard, the plant with small yellow flowers, and Russian thistle, a thick growth that sometimes resembles tumbleweed. We moved around to different parts of the park, pulling all of the mustard and thistle that we could find while also making sure to not pull any native plants. Over the course of about 90 minutes, we filled about 30 large trash bags with black mustard that we had pulled.
Â
It was warm outside and each member of our team was certainly a bit dirty by the end, but the work was satisfying and enjoyable because we were working with our friends and such nice people. After filling all of the trash bags that we had with mustard and thistle, we switched to a new task: collecting primrose seeds. The City of Malibu workers gave each team member a small brown paper bag and showed us how to identify primrose seed pods that were ripe for collection, and how to pick them without damaging the plant. We set about collecting as many primrose seed capsules as we could, so that the city can grow these native plants elsewhere in the future.
Â
Finally, we returned to campus on the bus, singing and laughing all the way, enjoyed some time (and food) with other students at Alumni Park, and watched the Waves of Flags display.
Â
Step Forward Day is always an important way for Pepperdine to serve and embrace our local community. The objective is not for all of us to feel good about ourselves for a day, but to buy into a heart of service, to give back to the community that gives so much to us, and to simply help some people and groups that could use a hand. This year's experience was important for us because we were able to partake in an effort that keeps our city healthy and clean. Malibu is a beautiful place under any circumstances, and we are blessed to live here, but it takes work to keep the city beautiful and thriving. "Beautifying" Legacy Park allowed us to give back to a city that supports our school and to keep our home ecologically healthy. We were able to see how much can accomplished when so many people work towards the same goal, which is an important value for our team and also for the lives of purpose, service, and leadership that Pepperdine champions, on Step Forward Day and every other day.
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Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track
