Students in Michele Korb's ARSC 011 class have been given an extra credit project that goes beyond the normal range of papers and worksheets: to pick up cigarette butts around campus.

The class, which covers science as a broad field, did the study while learning about the effects of pollution and garbage on the environment and groundwater, said Korb, a visiting assistant professor in the School of Education.

Korb asked her students to pick up all the cigarette butts from a 25-square-meter area around campus, and collect them in bags. She said her goal was to create awareness about how much pollution there is and how much waste is created without thinking about how much we really affect the world around us.

Students in the class had the option to go anywhere on campus to pick up the cigarette butts, Korb said. Some students chose to go in front of dorms, such as McCormick Hall, and some went to academic buildings.

Two students in the class, Meara Downey and Rebecca Lorentzen, both sophomores in the College of Arts and Sciences, chose to pick up cigarette butts at the bus stop at North 12th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.

Downey said her group found 782 cigarette butts, which amounted to about 26 per square meter. Downey said doing the project made her think about how we pollute the planet.

"It really made me think about how much waste we leave around." Downey said. "Especially since there is a garbage can two feet away from where we picked the cigarette butts up."

Lorentzen was also shocked about the amount of cigarette butts they picked up at the bus stop.

"I expected there to be a lot, but there were so many," Lorentzen said. "They were lodged everywhere, in the sidewalk cracks, in the grass."

Lorentzen thinks people throw cigarette butts on the ground because they do not have a place to put them. There is a garbage can near the bus stop, but it does not have an ashtray, she said.

Korb said she would like people to be aware of the message people send when they pollute.

"When you have people smoking and throwing cigarette butts outside of a place like Schroeder Complex, which is a health sciences complex, what kind of message does this send?" Korb said. "People should consider what impact pollution has on (Marquette's) message of social justice, and how other people, such as children and families who come to visit Marquette, view our campus."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 21 2005.