Students Storm to Carolina Beach for Environmental Sweep
Wilmington, N.C.
Citizens of Wilmington and Carolina Beach assembled alongside students of UNC-Wilmington and Cape Fear on Sept. 24 at the Carolina Beach Boardwalk to help clean the boardwalk, the accesses and the beach. According to Reese Stipicevic, the Sweep was planned by the campus CLES organization as one of the Seahawk Surge activities that the group puts together each semester. “The main idea behind the Seahawk Surge is to get a group of students together with the community and do whatever we can to help out,” Stipicevic said of the affair. Stipicevic is a student volunteer for the UNC-Wilmington Center for Leadership Education and Services, coordinator for the Carolina Beach Sweep and an active participant in the Cape Fear environmental community. When the idea for an environmentally themed Seahawk Surge was discussed, Stipicevic jumped at the opportunity to take action in coordinating the event centered around a beach cleanup. “I am extremely passionate about the environment, so I wanted take action on this project,” Stipicevic said of her involvement. The group of Wilmington students put this event together in conjunction with the town of Carolina Beach.
On the morning of the beach sweep, the ocean air brought clouds and sprinkling rain to keep the volunteers company during their trash-pick-up. Though, the rain clouds were not enough to dampen the cheery disposition of the volunteers out on the beach, combing for trash like it was buried treasure. The spirits of all were lifted by the unrelenting positivism of the coordinators—and the sound system blasting songs like “Wild Thing” and “Brown Eyed Girl” only helped to set the mood. Karleigh, an employee of the Carolina Beach Parks and Recreation Department, greeted the volunteers with fervor as they arrived, giving directions to the eager workers. The volunteers were instructed to grab an empty garbage bag for the trash and a glove for sanitary purposes. Before they hit the beaches to begin cleaning, each signed their name on the event ledger, putting their email address and their affiliated organization down for records. There were many different organizations present in the main boardwalk area, each representing their group proudly with a prominently displayed tent with their name showing brightly. The Girl Scouts of Cape Fear, the Surf Rider chapter of Cape Fear and UNC-Wilmington, the Red Cross and the Parks and Recreation committee of Carolina Beach were all in attendance, promoting their views on the event, as well as environmental welfare as a whole.
Many of the attendees had questions about where would be the best place to go to do the most good, and Karleigh responded with “It doesn’t matter, just get to the beach and clean!” She would refuse no one when it came to handing out extra credit slips for course credit and community service hours, and no one could pass on to the beach without signing up for the raffle, presented by the town of Carolina Beach.
Residents of all ages from Carolina Beach, UNC-Wilmington, Wrightsville and even a small group from Raleigh were attracted into Carolina Beach to participate in the Beach Sweep. Cindi, from the Parrot Heads service organization in Raleigh, made the drive the night before to aid the Wilmington chapter of the same organization. In response to the environmental aspect of the service project, Cindi said “Oh, yeah, I definitely enjoy this aspect. The beach was not clean enough, so it feels good to contribute to the community in this way.” She said that she would definitely make the trek again from Raleigh to Carolina Beach for another cleanup.
Dawn Harris and Crystal Hill, neighbors living just up the road from the pier say that they have a great stake in the cleanliness of the beach as citizens of Carolina Beach. For Hill, a student of Cape Fear Community College, this Beach Sweep was her first, but according to her, it would surely not be her last. “We live just up the road and we see how dirty it is every day. It’s our responsibility to get out here and cleanup in any way we can,” said Hill. She and her neighbor, Harris, described the types of trash they see on a daily basis, listing off Styrofoam, cardboard and cigarette butts as the most prominent forms of litter scattered about the pier and surrounding areas. “Butts, butts and more butts,” said Harris of her greatest pet peeve on the beach. Other than eradicating the “butt problem,” Harris, who has been on several cleanups before, simply wants to “clean up the earth and make it more livable for the whole town.”
According to the CLES office, there are not any more Seahawk Surges planned for this semester, but there are a few events planned centered around environmental issues, including a lecture series entitled “Be Ocean Minded.” A film and another series of talks by University professors from the geology department will address the concept of the “plastic ocean.” These events will begin on Oct. 15.
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