After one of the most celebrated weekends in college took place, also known as “Halloweekend,” the Leaders for Environmental Action at Fairfield (LEAF) Club and Public Health club sponsored a beach clean-up on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 30.
While most clean-up’s are usually sponsored by Service Fairfield where about 30 or so students are in attendance, according to Olivia Beaudoin ‘23, president of LEAF, over 50 Fairfield University students arrived at Lantern Point at 11 a.m. sharp on Sunday.
In addition to the LEAF club and Public Health club, members from campus ministry, club volleyball and the University’s tennis team also grabbed a trash bag and a pair of gloves.
The group started their morning outside of That’s the Spirit Shoppe and moved their way onto The Point, picking up empty cans, broken glass, plastic cups and other litter spread throughout the area. After an hour had passed, the entirety of the beach was clear of trash and nearly 50 trash bags were filled with the collected litter.
Beaudoin explained how “we originally wanted to host these events after seeing how much litter is created from our own peers and to keep our local waters free from debris. We have been doing beach clean-ups for the past couple of years and have been featured in local newspapers such as the CT Insider.”
“We hope to take responsibility as Fairfield students for any litter from the past weekend’s activities,” Beaudoin added. “We also hope to aid the community with keeping our oceans, wetlands and neighborhoods free from potentially harmful material. Getting as many volunteers as possible allows us to accomplish as much as possible, so lots of promotion goes into each clean-up.”
In 2021, LEAF club held two to three beach clean-ups per semester, weather permitting. In the 2022-2023 academic school year, Public Health and LEAF club have already sponsored two clean-ups.
“This year, with more clubs and organizations involved, we hope to have more events per semester with more people for as long as we can,” Beaudoin shared.
Senior Payton Matthews, president of the Public Health Club, shares that the volunteer work felt really great.
“I really like to give back to the community. I’m also a senior, so I know what happens on the beach [and] I want to make sure I clean up after myself and my peers,” Matthews said.
She continues, “We want to do our best to be friendly with our neighbors and not feel like outsiders amongst the community.”
Matthews comments on the main focuses of the club by saying that “As president of the Public Health club, we’re really big on cleaning and sustainability as well.”
COSO Representative for the Public Health Club, Kelsi McCarthy ‘23 adds to the focus on sustainability.
“I think beach clean-ups are essential because we are residents alongside families and we cannot litter the beach as we want to keep the wildlife and residents safe,” she said. “If you wanna have fun, you gotta pay the price!”
Senior Kyle Crowell also details the responsibility that seniors living on the beach have in regard to beach clean-ups.
“I think beach clean-up is important because it’s where we live and we share it with residents. So if we make a mess, it’s [ours] to clean up,” Crowell shared.
The beach clean-ups are not only exclusive for seniors, as students from all grades have the opportunity to help out.
Sophomore Lauren Trymbulak comments on her choice to attend the beach clean-up.
“I just recently joined the Public Health club and saw the event on their Instagram page, and thought I should go help out the Fairfield community!” she shared.
Students interested in taking part in a student-led organization that promotes sustainability on and off campus, such as LEAF, can register on Life@Fairfield or “join our GroupMe,” Beaudoin explains. This semester, LEAF plans to volunteer through Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk with some of their community science projects and will also participate in tracking biodiversity in general along Fairfield beaches.
If students have too much on their plate, however, they can always attend just one of their future clean-ups as there is no obligation for recurring attendance. “The more people that participate, the more healthy our local environment is,” Beaudoin ended.
Leave a Reply