Senior School Round Square Preps for Beach Cleanup

April 23, 2021

Academics

GNS

As part of Round Square’s contribution to our main spring charity—Surfrider Vancouver Island—Round Square will be hosting a beach cleanup at Gonzales Beach on April 28.

Surfrider Vancouver Island is a volunteer-run organization whose primary focus is to preserve and protect our oceans and beaches. With 3400 kilometres of coast on Vancouver Island alone, coastal preservation and protection is a vast undertaking. Fortunately, Surfrider Vancouver Island is well-equipped to tackle this problem. By breaking down ocean preservation into five major “barrels of focus,” Surfrider Vancouver Island renders a large responsibility into smaller ones that can be distributed among communities. The GNS community is very lucky to have Ms. Jacquelyn Cantwell, GNS’ Admission Coordinator at the Junior School, who is also the Beach Cleanups Coordinator and a member of the executive committee for Surfrider Vancouver Island.

The beach cleanup is to raise awareness and support Surfrider Vancouver Island, an inspiration during the planning phase of our first GNS beach clean-up of the year, and to support ocean conservation. As garbage from Gonzales Beach is primarily micro-plastics and cigarette butts, the Grade 9 participating should bring a large yogurt container and reusable lunch/grocery bags shared between two people to collect the garbage. As an added incentive, a sponsored treasure hunt will take place with little plastic pieces that fit inside metal bottle caps as the “treasure” waiting to be collected.

The first of hopefully many beach cleanups organized for April will be for the Grade 9 cohort only, with Round Square Coordinator Ms. Sarah McKerlich and an additional teacher chaperone. A Grade 10 beach cleanup, inspired by the stellar work of the Grade 9, is in the works. Participants will be absent for their Period 2 classes as well as the Senior School Assembly. It is requested that participants check in with their homeform teacher, notify their Period 2 teacher and their parents. The group will be meeting at 8:20 a.m. April 28 at the Madison Street bus stop (just in front of the Scott Building) with an estimated return time of 10:25 a.m. Participants will be walking to and from Gonzales Beach so the GNS PHE strip is the suggested attire along with comfortable walking shoes. Hats and sunscreen are also highly recommended.

As with all events these days, COVID-19 protocols will be strictly followed. Masks will be worn at all times except for socially distanced breaks. Additional recommendations include hand sanitizers and garden gloves–which will also be useful for garbage pick-up.

If you would like to support Surfrider through organizing beach cleanups, please email beach-cleanups@vancouverisland.surfrider.org. Also available is the Marine Debris Tracker App. Choose Surfrider Canada from the app’s starting page and enter Vancouver Island. This app allows you to record data essential for organizing future beach cleanups and keeping track of the work that has been done. Beach cleanups are a fun and efficient way of doing our part for the environment, they are also one of the few outdoor events that can be enjoyed during COVID-19!