Anna Maria Elementary students participate in bi-coastal cleanup

HOLMES BEACH, Fla. (WWSB) - Anna Maria Elementary students participated in a beach cleanup day on Thursday as a part of a bi-costal cleanup effort focused on educating K-5 students on ocean plastic pollution.

The event was co-led by Healdsburg Elementary of Healdsburg, California, and Anna Maria Elementary of Holmes Beach, Florida, to mark the strategic partnership between the two schools in a pilot cleanup.

Brightmark, a circular innovation company with a mission to Reimagine Waste, and Guy Harvey Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the marine environment, hosted the student bi-coastal cleanup entitled “Changing the Tide.”

“Changing the Tide” is a new event being launched this year as an on-the-ground, interactive exercise in educating the participating fourth-grade students about the tangible impact of plastic pollution on their communities.

This comes on the heels of the launch of Brightmark and GHF’s new plastics K-5 curriculum that has a dedicated “The Plastic Pollution, Plastic Solution” lesson plan. The elementary school marine science curriculum will reach 30,000 elementary students across 1,250 classrooms.

This also ties into the larger call to action around International Coastal Cleanup Day, which is this Saturday, Sept. 16.

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