Last year, students in the Marine Biology class learned about pollution and how it affects our planet. To create a more hands on learning environment, the students went to beaches and cleaned up plastic and garbage. Loraine A. and Julie C. are two students who participated in this service learning project last year. They said seeing something on a slide show and then going to the beach and actually cleaning up bags and bags of plastic really helped them see what a difference they can make. Knowing that every piece of plastic that has ever been created (from the very first piece) is still in existence today led them to make changes in their lifestyle, like no longer using plastic straws and using reusable bags. These changes can make a difference in the kind of trash that they produce and how they take care of God’s Earth.
 
Before their service learning class, they didn’t know how much plastic affected real life.Sea turtles eat plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish, but they cannot process it and end up dying of starvation. When baleen whales feed on tiny organisms in the ocean, they end up eating different varieties of plastic, such as grocery gabs, ziplock bags and bottles.  They end up dying of starvation as well. Over 50% of the oxygen we breathe is from our oceans, and if the oceans break down it will affect life on land.

With the knowledge our students now have, they feel a great responsibility to educate others. They believe everyone should have the experience of being able to learn something in the classroom and then go out and apply it to real life situations to make our world a better place. Their teacher Mr. Winant showed them how this relates to our responsibility as Christians to take care of and protect the Earth.