Nearly 4,500 Los Angeles-area students, teachers and volunteers recently participated in the 24th Annual Kids Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Clean up at Dockweiler State Beach.
Celebrating this year’s theme of “Come Together” for the ocean, students helped clean the beach and formed a human aerial art piece in the sand.
Third Grader Tyler Giddens from Brentwood Science Magnet was honored for her poem “Coming Together for the Ocean,” which won a citywide poetry contest.
“It is very important to bring children together and teach them to be environmental stewards,” says Los Angeles Board of Public Works Commissioner Luz Rivas.
“Kids Ocean Day is a great opportunity to help shape good habits early on in a child’s life. Teaching good habits will ensure our beaches, oceans and all waterways stay clean for future generations.”
Kids Ocean Day is the culmination of a year-round school assembly program by the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education, which teaches school children about the adverse impacts of pollution on our oceans and waterways. Kids Ocean Day is an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in the classroom.
“Kids Ocean Day is about empowering KIDS into action,” says Michael Klubock, founder of Kids Ocean Day. “By getting children involved in a hands-on activity after learning about the environment in the classroom, we strengthen the connection between individual actions and the health of the environment. As these children get older, they will remember the time that they made a difference and feel empowered to continue protecting our oceans.”
The finale is the creation of an aerial art piece. The students, teachers and volunteers created the words “Come Together” and individual sea creatures on the sand. The resulting photo will highlight the importance of teamwork to keep our oceans clean.
Kids Ocean Day Los Angeles is one of six in the state of California, sponsored by the California Coastal Commission. Eight thousand children were expected to participate in Kids Ocean Day statewide, with half of them at the Los Angeles event.