by John Le
It’s that time of year again, when the community comes together to purify our neighborhood! The Sterling Clean Stream Project, a chapter of the larger organization Sterling Foundation Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, held their annual Stream Clean Up on April 15, 2018 at Sterling Middle School. Volunteers were separated into groups and worked together to pick up the rubbish embedded within the stream. The event lasted from 8am to at 3pm, however volunteers could come join anytime from. Sophomore James Newson said, “ It is a great opportunity to do something for the community and to get some volunteer hours for some students
Many Park view clubs and sports participated in this event including, the National Honor Society, the National Science Honor Society, Campus, and the football team.
Junior Alex Bardales shared, “It was a great experience, I didn’t know our streams had that much trash!” While the project focused on cleaning the stream, that was not where most of the trash was. The majority of garbage was found in the nearby woods. When the stream floods trash from the woods end up going down to the stream. Volunteers discovered many things they did not know before. Bardales also says that, “I learned many things, like how Sterling has an addiction with beer. 90% of what I found was beer cans,” said Bardales
Senior Patrick Tchoumbo said, “ The event was a good way to give back to the community, not many know the importance of participating in local events.” Cleaning up community areas contribute directly to the national cleanliness. By clearing the rubbish out of our local streams, less trash will travel to the Chesapeake bay watershed.
Although it may not seem like much, Mr. Steve Barham, an English teacher believes that, “Every year is different, hopefully more people come next time in order to make a bigger dent in cleaning the clutter in our environment.” People need to become more aware of the waste they contribute to society, small differences can make big changes.
