At halftime, two girls walk out of the chaos inside Allen Fieldhouse. Without skipping a beat, one chucks an empty Diet Coke can into the trash and continues her conversation with her friend.

Why would someone care about learning to recycle? Abarca’s answer is blunt.

“You don’t. That’s kind of the challenge,” he said.

(This article was originally written for a journalism course. It appeared in the University Daily Kansan on Dec. 3, 2013.)