“It’s nice to see you clean up. We love what you are doing,” said Mary, a passerby in a kayak, who witnessed the activity at Zach’s bay, Jones Beach this past weekend. On Saturday, September 17, members of the Ecology Club at Floral Park Memorial High School were proud to play an important role in this amazing event. Ocean Conservation International Coastal Cleanup Day engages people around the world to drop their phones, toss the TVs, and ditch the potato chips to get involved, and help clean up their local beaches. Last year, this international group, consisting of 800,000 volunteers, picked up about 18 million pounds of trash worldwide.

The students left from the high school at 9:00 am with a bus load of 32 caring and determined students, along with five staff members. They rode all the way to Zach’s Bay to clean up. It total, the members from Floral Park gathered 417 pounds of waste. For three consecutive hours, these devoted individuals walked along the shoreline picking up garbage which ranged from your everyday trash, to wooden planks, bricks and metals.

“It’s great to see students care about the world they live in,” said art teacher Mrs. Caporale, when asked about her thoughts on this wonderful event.

Mrs. Mamo, the teacher in charge of the Ecology Club, stated, “We brought 32 students and five staff to the beach. Special shout out to Mr. Dura and Mrs. Ricoy for their help and assistance, and Mrs. Caporale and Mr. Cersosim for joining us today. We had 417 pounds of garbage!”

The breakdown of trash collected was as follows: 144 pounds of garbage and 249 pounds of wood.

Mrs. Mamo added, “It was a wonderful day, and I appreciate the 32 students who joined us in this important activity.”

As for the students, yes, walking along the beach in the hot sun was hard work, but it is good to know
that they did something great for the environment.