Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer, but beach trash never takes a vacation, nearly 600 Orange County elementary school students in Huntington State Beach learned Tuesday morning. .

Orange County Coastkeeper hosted its annual Kids Ocean Day celebration, sponsored by the California Coastal Commission, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Students from nine elementary schools in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Orange and Stanton participated, picking up trash on the beach north of Magnolia Street.

Kids Ocean Day is an annual statewide celebration to protect the world’s oceans. This year’s theme was “Discovering Joy in Nature”.

After collecting more than 115 pounds of trash, the children then posed for a display of human aerial artwork near Tower 11. Their bodies spelled ‘Share Joy’ and featured a seahorse, smiley face and tail whale, while a drone took a picture from above.

Each student will receive a postcard with a photo of the art they helped create.

“It serves a dual purpose,” said Ray Hiemstra, associate director of programs for Orange County Coastkeeper. “Definitely getting kids to learn about ocean issues and litter in particular, but also, for a lot of these kids, it’s their first time going to the beach. You know, once you’ve been somewhere, you feel more comfortable coming back.

“It’s amazing. For a lot of people in Orange County, most of whom live within 10 miles of the beach, a lot of people have never been here. It’s really important, this coastal access.

Students from Eisenhower Elementary School in Garden Grove, seated in the foreground, help form the message “Share the Joy” for a display of human aerial artwork during Kids Ocean Day in Huntington State Beach on Tuesday .

(Kevin Chang/Times Community News)

Parent chaperone Tuin Nguyen was carrying a checklist for his son, Ian, and a few of his friends. Ian is in fifth grade at Eisenhower Elementary in Garden Grove.

The group collected many pieces of plastic, as well as rubber and polystyrene. Other common items on the list included metal, such as batteries or nails, and cigarette butts.

“It’s all things they can relate to,” Hiemstra said. “We can talk, you know, ‘Remember those balloons at the birthday party? Make sure they don’t escape, because that’s where they end up. One of the things that the most common we find are those little straws, and many of those kids drink from cans. Maybe they’ll be more careful with the straws at home and when they get home. Unfortunately, we never run out of trash.

Nguyen said it was her son’s first visit to the beach since the pandemic began.

“I think it’s a great experience for kids to know how to keep the environment clean for the next generation, their generation,” she said. “We destroyed it, but they can clean it up. We can clean it up for them hopefully.

Sophia Ochoa, 9, is in fourth grade at Peters Elementary in Garden Grove. She said she will remember the lessons she learned on Tuesday the next time she visits the beach.

“If the waste gets into the ocean, it could harm the animals,” she said. “Animals could die, and we really don’t want that.”

Dyana Peña, assistant director of programs for Orange County Coastkeeper, organizes the annual event. She likes to tell the story of a child in the past who ran to the edge of the sand but stopped before stepping on it and asked, “Can I step on it?”

Third-grade students at Handy Elementary School in Santa Ana pick up trash at the beach on Tuesday.

(Kevin Chang/Times Community News)

Peña wants children to know that the answer is an emphatic “yes”. Before Kids Ocean Day takes place each year, she visits participating campuses for an assembly to educate children about sources of marine debris and how to deal with it.

She added that two light switches were also found on Tuesday morning, but were tampered with by professionals, not students.

“My priority is that they have a good day here,” she said. “A lot of them don’t go to the beach often, so I want to help break down all those barriers – time, transportation, entrance fees. We want them to feel welcome here. If they live in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, a little further inland, the Orange County coastline is still theirs and needs to be protected.