Reprinted with permission from Brunswick County Early College High School’s The Firebird Times.
The waves washed along the shore, as high school students from Brunswick County Early College High School picked up trash as a community service project. On October 4th, our high school had its first community service day of the school year. These community service days were considered “normal” in years prior, as they would happen every other Friday. However, these community service days are now more of a rare occurrence. Even though they are rare, these days still provide us a chance to give back to our community in many ways. This can help encourage people to give back on their own, not just as a school function, and provide a fun way to socialize and show community engagement.
Here at ECHS, we find giving back to our community very important. This is partly because we receive two years of college education for free, saving families up to $30,000 in academic fees. We want to show how grateful we are for this wonderful opportunity. We show our gratitude by performing acts of service for our community during school hours on some school days.
Students can choose from among various organizations for community service. The organization that Gabriel and I chose for our project was beach cleanup. We went to Oak Island Beach and met with a member of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and a board member of the Oak Island Beach Preservation Society. They spoke to us about how to pick up trash and what kinds of trash to pick up and not to pick up. We then spent some time going up and down the beach picking up any trash we came across, putting our feet in the ocean, and potentially (but hopefully not) ruining people’s trip to the beach due to the noise that we brought with us.
As a member of and an access parent for the Oak Island Beach Preservation Society, I (Gabriel) have realized the importance of stewardship on the beach. Without the work of access parents and picking up trash, Oak Island Beach would be laden with debris. To relate this service project to one of our five R’s, conservation is a very relevant topic of today’s news. We all need to be aware of what we are throwing away and where our trash is going. The picturesque, natural setting of the beach is not the place for trash. Trash onshore or that washes into the ocean is harmful to the environment and sea life. We all need to do our part to protect the environment and all living creatures.
Overall this project was an opportunity to have fun as well as be helpful, which is a healthy balance to have in life. If we all give back, we will all receive, not necessarily tangible items, but peace of mind that we are doing the right thing. We all need to do our part to make the world great! This may just be one service project, but it can turn into so much more! So, let’s all give back in any way that we can!