Addisyn Madeen
Twice a year, every year, Saint Maur’s very own Mr. Gaury sends out a Google form asking for any and all potential students interested in going to Enoshima to assist with cleaning up the beach at Enoshima. Multiple groups of people come together to form a humongous group to pick up all the litter along the beach. University students, their professors, teachers, school children, and their parents, all come together for this collective goal. The event is organized by Soleil Provence and Sego Initiative and each time, a different activity is offered alongside the clean-up to provide added incentive and make the experience more enjoyable. This time around, the theme was Earth Day and there was yoga to help entice more to volunteer, as well as give all participants the opportunity to calm down and enjoy a relaxing day at the beach.
On April 23, 2023, 11 students from Saint Maur signed up to volunteer with setting up, transporting materials, and serving the volunteers, all at various times throughout the day. The previous week, it was becoming warmer and it was starting to feel as if summer was approaching in Japan. However, the weekend of the beach cleanup brought on a cold streak once again. On the day of the clean-up, some students were expected to show up at 6 a.m., when it was a cold 7 degrees Celsius. The wind and the lack of sun didn’t help either. This didn’t stop any of the volunteers from continuously working hard.
Throughout the day, it started to become warmer and more and more volunteers could be seen shedding layers of clothing. Right until it was time for the yoga session. More than half of the volunteers joined it for the session, while the rest continued to work or enjoy the occasional rays of sun peeping through the clouds.
After the yoga session, many of the volunteers started to clean up the trash. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to be found, making everyone’s jobs much easier. Volunteers continued to snack as they worked and soon enough it was lunchtime. Many of the Saint Maur students helped with serving food for the lunch rush and they were fully prepared for it.
Throughout the day, whenever anyone’s mood wavered due to the long day and poor weather, the dog, Goku, would be trotting around always ready for a pet and a game of fetch. He was of a mixed breed but very obviously, part Schnauzer. The owner would show off the driver’s license he specially ordered for Goku and would very happily let you take Goku for a short walk around the beach.
At the end of the day, the volunteers who were left would take everything down, and bring all the trash to the van where it was driven off to the dump. Everything was picked up and disposed of, even the rocks and seaweed were moved to ensure they were not in anyone’s way. Nothing was put to waste, all the leftovers were distributed evenly, and everyone was happy to head home and finally warm up.
A big thank you to Mr. Gaury, our school’s public relation director, who helped enlist students for this event,as he does every year, and generously provided chocolate to show appreciation to all of the volunteers. Another successful beach clean up with 11 students from Saint Maur who very willingly helped out. Happy Earth Day, everyone!
Addisyn Madeen