Corpus Christi fifth-, sixth- and eighth-grade girls won high praise from Palisades Recreation Director Erich Haas after they picked up 3,500 pieces of trash and litter from around the park on April 24.
“Wow,” Haas said. “What a great way to give back to the community and support Earth Day!”
Corpus Christi parent and Park Advisory Board member Rick McGeagh added, “It’s great to see the kids taking pride in our park and pitching in.”
Earlier, eighth-grader Maddie Zaloom, a member of the Corpus student council who heads that group’s ecology and safety committee, met with the school’s physical education teacher Lindsay Frasor to brainstorm on a school-day event to raise awareness of Earth Day.
“We use the park for PE, so we felt it was important for the girls to learn to respect the Earth and how every little bit helps to make a difference,” Frasor said. “We decided to clean up the park.”
The three grades combed the perimeter of the park, the picnic gully, the tennis courts and the path that encircles the Field of Dreams looking for trash.
“We made it a fun contest to see which group could get the most trash,” said Frasor, who grew up in Chicago and moved to California to attend Loyola Marymount for graduate school. “The girls had a great time, but more importantly, they felt proud that they had contributed to make a difference in the environment.”
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