4Ocean Restores Boca Beaches

By Kelly Marmo

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Recently, Lynn’s Golden Key Honor Society participated in a beach cleanup at Red Reef Park in association with the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and 4Ocean to celebrate Earth Day.

Members of the honors organization participated in the beach cleanup to conclude their numerous service events of the spring semester. These individuals gathered from all surrounding areas to help in the restoration process, with a great turnout of volunteers.

“Being the vice president of Golden Key, I am thankful I had this opportunity,” said Victoria Palermo, senior. “It feels great to do events like this and give back to the community.”

4Ocean, an organization focused on restoring the environment, hosted the event, providing all volunteers with supplies to rehabilitate the beaches of Boca. Free bracelets and t-shirts were given to all of those participating in the cleanup.

“It’s amazing to see the impact that cleanups have on the community,” said Stephanie Peguillan, coordinator for student involvement. “Although we didn’t collect a large amount of big trash, there were so many little pieces of plastic we found.”

As some scientists are projecting that oceans will contain more plastic than fish come 2050, events like this help end the detrimental trends of the modern environment. So far, 4Ocean has removed more than 469,800 pounds of trash from South Florida beaches, a number continuing to grow over time.

“When joining in the beach cleanup, I couldn’t believe [what I saw],” said Erika De La Torre, junior. “There were numerous small plastic pieces; picking up just a few of them helps us get closer to cleaning our beaches.”

Whether a Golden Key member or not, all students are encouraged to join Student Involvement to help rehabilitate the local area. By following Golden Key’s example, students can be the next individual to spark a change in the community.

Kelly Marmo

Kelly Marmo is a sophomore majoring in communications and design. Marmo has a love for journalism, advertising and public relations, which all led her to become a member of iPulse. Outside of iPulse, Marmo’s interests include music, exercise and photography.

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