There was dog poop everywhere. In my neighborhood, my friends and I realized that we saw canine feces everywhere we went. There are parks around every block in my area, and the parks were scattered with dog poop. Not only parks were vandalized this way, but many front yards also had multiple mounds of dog feces rotting away. I was heartbroken at how people were treating our residence. I noticed that even homeowners who didn't own dogs had poop on their lawns, meaning that others were degrading their neighbors' properties as well. This made me worried because the more I looked into this issue, the more I learned how severe a simple mistake could be. As I researched the impact of dog waste on the environment, I found that dog waste can potentially pervade our sewerage system and cause many diseases and parasites. I didn't want these bad habits and mannerisms to affect the whole community's health and safety, so I decided to do something about it and reached out to my friends. My friends and I gathered more students from our school, naming ourselves the "Turd Herd". We reached out to a service called the "Poop Scoop Group," working in collaboration to clean our community's mess and to further promote picking up after our dogs. The Turd Herd went around the local parks to pick up dog poop. We then went and picked up any feces in sight on the front lawns. We also knocked on many doors in the surrounding neighborhood to offer to pick up people's backyards too. To further our impact and truly make a change, we presented a slideshow to classes at school about the issue at hand and explained to people the detriments of not properly taking care of dog waste. Weeks later, as I walked down the sidewalk of the park, I noticed a substantial decrease in dog waste on the grass. This community involvement made me feel overjoyed, especially since we saw the neighborhood have a tangible improvement in waste. My experience with the Turd Herd showed me a way to perform lifelong service and learning. Even though this issue wasn't as big as curing world hunger or cancer, it was a need in the community that needed to be acknowledged. I now recognize that these small matters are just as significant as the big matters, and people shouldn't be scared to seize these opportunities to make their community a home away from home.

There was dog poop everywhere. In my neighborhood, my friends and I realized that we saw canine feces everywhere we went. There are parks around every block in my area, and the parks were scattered with dog poop. Not only parks were vandalized this way, but many front yards also had multiple mounds of dog feces rotting away. Picking up after your dog isn't that hard, right? I was disgusted at how people were treating our residence. I noticed that even homeowners that didn't own dogs had poop on their lawns, meaning that others were not taking care of their responsibilities. This made me worried because the more I looked into this issue, the more I learned how bad a simple mistake could be. When the rain came, dog poop would pervade our water by going into the sewage. This could cause many diseases and parasites, such as e-coli. I didn't want people's bad habits and mannerisms to affect the whole community's health and safety, so I decided to do something about it and reached out to my friends. My friends and I gathered more students from our school, naming ourselves the Turd Herd. We reached out to a service called the Poop Scoop Group to work in collaboration to clean our community's mess and to further promote picking up after our dogs. The Turd Herd went around the local parks to pick up dog poop. We then went and picked up any feces in sight on the front lawns. We also knocked on many doors in the surrounding neighborhood to offer to pick up people's backyards too. To further our impact and truly make a change, we presented a slideshow on the issue at hand and explained to people the detriments of not properly taking care of dog waste. Weeks later, as I walked down the sidewalk of the park, I noticed a substantial decrease in dog waste on the grass. I felt contented that what the Turd Herd completed actually made a difference. Even though this issue wasn't as big as world hunger or anything, it was a need in the community that I finally was made aware of. I now recognize that these smaller matters are just as important as big matters, and people shouldn't be scared to seize these opportunities to make their community a home away from home.