Recently, the seventh-grade class went down to Bishop’s Beach on a field trip to collect marine debris. Armed with blue plastic gloves and garbage bags, the students hiked down Ocean Shores Road to the rocky water front.

Divided into groups of three and four, the students spread out across the beach, half going east, the other half going west. They collected for two hours, combing the beach for styrofoam, plastic and other garbage that was stuck under rocks or in between logs. A few of the more interesting items that were found that day was a baby Nike shoe, a tire rim, canisters of CO2, and an NFL fly-swatter.

Walking back to the trail head, the groups met and showed off their findings. One group got a measly amount of seven items of trash in total, while others found more than two thousand.

The kind of trash that was most common? Styrofoam. It sifted through sand, got caught in fallen trees and just laid around. The students picked it all up, resulting in a very clean beach for Homer.

The trip was to show students the danger of marine debris. Birds can eat the trash and die, as can fish and otters. They also can get soda can rings caught around their necks and choke to death. 

So, Homer, keep the beaches clean. Don’t throw your food wrappers in the sand and don’t throw your beer bottles into dying campfires embers as it all adds up to a less than clean beach.  

Sara Stuart is a Homer Middle School student enrolled in the business information systems class taught by Holly Alston.