Young ambassador Sosonia Nezwood leads 36 volunteers to clean Animas River Walk

Sosonia Nezwood, a San Juan College High School junior serving as a Young Ambassador, led 36 volunteers on Feb. 28 to clean litter along the Animas River Walk in Farmington, collecting 20 bags of trash and three buckets of glass during a 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. event.

The cleanup was held as part of the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Que Linda program and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s youth-focused Keep Litter Out campaign, with a special projects coordinator from the governor’s office assisting the youth beautification effort. Event sponsors listed for the Farmington cleanup were Aztec Well Service, SSS Trucking, Simply Solid LLC and Riley Industrial, and the first 20 volunteers to show up received a T-shirt.

Nezwood described her path into the Young Ambassador program, saying the application included questions about why she cares about the environment and what motivates her to help clean it up. Participants completed an all-day hosting training in Santa Fe in January that included guidance on securing sponsors, and Nezwood noted the program’s emphasis on demonstrated leadership: “I’m really grateful that I got the opportunity to be a young ambassador,” she said. “You know, so many people walk here … walk their dogs, they run, do lifestyle activities, and it sucks when you want to enjoy a place and it’s dirty.” The program’s primary requirement is demonstrating an ability to organize and lead a cleanup event, she said.

Volunteers met at the Animas River Walk in Farmington and worked along the trail during the 3.5-hour effort that removed the 20 bags of trash and three buckets of glass from public areas used for walking, running and dog walking. Photo credit for the event images is David Edward Albright.

Nezwood secured sponsor partnerships after the January hosting training and mobilized community volunteers to meet the program requirement by organizing and leading the cleanup. Her leadership on Feb. 28 met the Young Ambassador criteria and removed measurable amounts of litter from the Animas River Walk, leaving the trail cleaner for daily users and positioning her to support further Que Linda and Keep Litter Out activities.