In honor of World Water Day, groups of Nicholls students gathered on campus to help raise campus awareness.

As a part of their service project, students in Angela Corbin’s Pathogenic Microbiology class and some Geomatics students hosted a 60-meter obstacle course around the quadrangle to raise awareness to the plight of millions of people across the globe that do not have access to clean water.

Saidy Hebert, a biology pre-medicine sophomore from Larose said, “We’ve done articles and assignments in class about different sanitation problems they have when people don’t have access to clean water. If you have brown unclear water, you already have all kinds of parasites and people are ingesting that because they have no other resources for water.”

Out of breath after completing the obstacle course, Rian Aucoin, a biology junior from Houma said, “Oh my God, it was so hard. It was really heavy. If I had to carry my own water, it would take me all day.”

Bryant Autin, a microbiology senior from Galliano said the 60-meter obstacle course is only a small portion of the journey many people make to get clean water daily.

“It started off with a current event Ms. Corbin made us do, which was about how not everywhere in the world has access to clean fresh water,” Autin said. “If you think about it, we buy so much water. We can drink water that comes out of the sink, bottled water, jugs and even Kentwood can deliver to your house. For these people, this is a long journey that is really difficult for children to make. Many watering holes are next to schools, so at least when children leave school, they can bring it back to their homes.”

World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development where an international observance for water was recommended. The United Nations General Assembly responded and designated March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day, which has been held annually since then. This year’s theme “Water and Jobs” focuses on how enough quantity and quality of water can change workers’ lives and transform societies and economies.

Corbin said, “This is directed by the UN and we are just one little site. Our life here (in Louisiana) is water, so we’re highlighting a lot of industry associated with water. This is just an awareness campaign and we hope to get the campus to have a better idea of just how much of a privilege it is to have tap water and how our lives are so dependent on water.”