With a waving One Shade Greener flag in hand and music filling the air, TCU senior Mark Sayegh hypes up volunteers from a small canoe floating on the Worth Hills Pond, turning a simple campus cleanup into a celebration of community and environmental action. That same passion has allowed him to grow a nonprofit spanning several chapters and mobilize others toward change.

Sayegh’s green thumb was instilled at an early age as he watched his dad garden. Later, during his sophomore year at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, during the Covid pandemic, he and a friend noticed their local parks struggling with litter as more people gathered for socially distanced picnics. The two organized cleanup efforts, launching the initial infrastructure of what would become One Shade Greener.

By April 2023, Sayegh officially founded it as a TCU student organization after learning that parts of Fort Worth have some of the lowest life expectancy rates in Texas, an issue largely tied to food insecurity. The organization now aims to foster a cleaner, healthier environment by building and maintaining community gardens and organizing regular litter cleanups throughout the city.

“I really wanted to connect TCU students with the broader Fort Worth community,” Sayegh said. “And I realized that this passion of mine, this organization, gave me a rare opportunity to do so.”

Since its humble beginnings, the nonprofit has collected about 24,000 pounds of trash.

“I never thought it would come this far,” Sayegh said. “It was two people. … I never thought it would grow into this.”

Growing the Movement

After a decorated kicking career at Austin Westlake, Sayegh joined TCU’s football team but had to retire following a spine injury during his first spring on campus.

Back home in the capital city for summer break, Sayegh refocused that energy, using his recovery time to strategize about how to grow One Shade Greener. He organized weekly community cleanups every Sunday, using Instagram to raise awareness. The events drew not only his friends but also volunteers from across the area. 

As attendance at the cleanup events grew, Sayegh leaned on fellow members to help coordinate activities during his surgery and recovery. Soon, those same members asked if the initiative could be brought to their own schools and college campuses. Sayegh quickly began developing ways to expand One Shade Greener to suit the needs of each community.

Whether planting trees, cleaning lakes or maintaining gardens, the goal is to advance the organization’s mission of creating healthier spaces and environments.

“Mark shows that the people you lead are capable of making the right choices; they just need parameters,” said Michael Rizzo, a friend who has worked with Sayegh through One Shade Greener and Honors College programs since the pair’s first year on campus.

In 2023, One Shade Greener expanded to five chapters beyond TCU: Sayegh’s alma mater, Westlake High School; Texas Tech University; Stephen F. Austin State University; Baylor University; and Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee. Chapters at Texas State and the University of Arkansas followed in summer 2025, and the organization plans to keep growing.

To keep chapters connected to him and to each other, Sayegh ensures the One Shade Greener Instagram account remains active, reposting content from other chapters’ accounts and sharing updates on cleanup efforts with the TCU chapter during meetings. “I try to show everyone that we’re all working toward one mission,” he said.

Sayegh recalls his proudest initiative as the organization’s first garden, planted at Fort Worth’s Lily B. Clayton Elementary School, just seven minutes from TCU’s campus.

“I think the way that we’re embedded in the community is the thing that sets us apart the most,” he said.

Within a few weeks, the TCU chapter restored the school’s gardens, which were disheveled and rarely used. The group followed up with monthly gardening lessons for the kids, using pamphlets and potato-themed activities — such as creating their own “Mr. Potato Man” — to show the vegetable’s versatility and spark excitement about the project.

For Thanksgiving, the garden’s vegetables and herbs were harvested and packed into goodie bags for the children to take home.

“They were so proud that they were able to give their parents something that they grew,” Sayegh said, adding that they asked, “Can we start this at home? Can we have an onion garden at home?”

Campus Connections

Sayegh, who was named TCU’s Outstanding Senior in the fall, describes himself as an outgoing person who thrives on meeting and collaborating with new people. As a Chancellor’s Scholar, a member of the John V. Roach Honors College and president of the Chemistry Club, he is deeply involved in campus life and knows how common it is for TCU students to need service hours for their own organizational requirements. Many of his volunteers are part of Greek life on campus.

For each event that attracts a significant number of participants, Sayegh’s goal is to encourage at least five to 10 attendees to become regular volunteers. From bringing donuts to waving a large One Shade Greener flag and blasting music from a speaker, he works to make every cleanup enjoyable. 

Over the years, One Shade Greener has collaborated with about 40 organizations on campus. TCU’s Student Government Association approached Sayegh last year to launch a recycling initiative on campus, and he spoke at SGA meetings to encourage more participation. 

“Mark leads by example. He’s a servant leader who genuinely cares, not just about sustainability but about people,” said Charity Ketu, former student body vice president, who has known Sayegh since living in the same dorm their first year on campus. “His impact has been felt both through environmental efforts and in the lives of those around him on campus.”

Sayegh attributes much of his journey to the opportunities offered to him at TCU. Being a Chancellor’s Scholar not only made attending the university possible but also inspired his commitment to giving back to the community that shaped him.

“It makes me so grateful to be at TCU, and I’m trying to make an impact with everything I do and do something with every second of my time because I know that there are people believing in me, and I want to make them proud,” he said. “I want to give back.”

One Shade at a Time

While One Shade Greener has already played a meaningful role on TCU’s campus and in the Fort Worth community, Sayegh sees its greatest potential still ahead. 

As he prepares for medical school to pursue a career in ophthalmology, he plans to continue integrating One Shade Greener into his work by combining gardening with access to healthy food as a form of promoting overall wellness. 

“I really want to put more of my time into the gardening aspect and tie it in with health,” Sayegh said. “I think as a future physician, I’ll be able to do this more, working with local clinics and connecting families that don’t have access to healthy food. It could be a separate avenue for health rather than just prescribing medication.” 

While he looks ahead, Sayegh also reflects on the experience of leading One Shade Greener and the lessons it has taught him about service, and the impact even small actions can have. 

Sayegh said no effort is too minor, whether it’s picking up one piece of trash or cleaning one garden at a time. “We want to make the world one shade greener — not a lot of shades at once, just one shade at a time.”