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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: 26 September 2007 SUBJECT: St. Croix's Largest Coastweeks Beach Cleanup Hosted by The Good Hope School
Saturday, September 22nd The Good Hope School community cleaned the Columbus Landing beach and mangrove area near Salt River to preserve St. Croix 's coastline, protect turtles and nesting birds, and make a global statement. Nearly 140 individuals including faculty, students, family and friends of Good Hope dedicated their morning to Coastweeks, an effort organized through The Ocean Conservancy to clean up coasts all over the globe. Locally, the University of the Virgin Islands and V.I. Waste Management Authority organized community volunteer groups. The Good Hope team was the largest group to hold a beach cleanup this year on St. Croix. It was an extraordinary turnout; a large disposal bin was filled and emptied twice during the effort and over 1,000 cans and bottles were collected. A vast amount of other marine debris including numerous tires and engine parts were included in the waste collected. Class participation in Coastweeks is an important aspect of Good Hope School 's emphasis on community service. GHS promotes ocean awareness education at all grade levels. The Saturday cleanup is a push to extend this learning to family and friends. The beach cleanups give students an opportunity to play a valuable role in the preservation of St. Croix 's natural environment. During the national Coastweeks effort students from Good Hope cleaned all the beaches adjacent to their campus. Preceding the effort, UVI's Emily Tyner and Marcia Taylor visited Good Hope to speak to each school division on facts about Marine Debris and its significance in the local environment. Students could be heard during the cleanup sharing learned facts, such as; it takes over 200 years for an aluminum can to decompose, and millions of years for Styrofoam. The presentations added value to the cleanup as students were able to educate their friends and families who participated. The volunteers were amazed to find a dumping spot in the area that had been used to dispose of linoleum tiles. A sense of hope was felt with the volunteers that all the Coastweeks cleanups on St. Croix will help deter the excessive litter.
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