9th Graders Clean Dennis Beaches with AmeriCorps
Published on Wednesday, October 22, 2008
By Nicole Muller
DENNIS -
The scene was windswept at Mayflower and Chapin beaches in Dennis Monday morning as 190 freshmen from Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich arrived to clean the beaches and learn ecological lessons.
It’s all part of Cape Tech’s Community Service Learning Program, launched with last year’s freshman class.
Members of VFW Post 10274 in Dennis, who for the past eight years have cleaned the beach as part of the town’s Adopt-a-Beach program, greeted Cape Tech’s students, teachers and Principal Len Phelan at Mayflower Beach. The Cape Cod Salties welcomed students to nearby Chapin Beach.
“We’re here to provide moral support and as observers,” said VFW Commander George Chase. “This project provides a wonderful learning experience for these young people.”
At each beach, small student groups rotated between learning stations manned by AmeriCorps volunteers providing lessons and anecdotes on tides and dunes, recycling, team building, data collection, land ecosystems and team building.
Students left the beaches with stories and messages to spread to their friends and families.
The beach cleanup is part of COASTSWEEP, a program that provided garbage bags, data collection cards and gloves for gathering debris. The state’s Coastal Cleanup Department will use data from the day’s collection in its ecological research.
Community Service Learning
In 2006, former Cape Tech Principal William Fisher (now superintendent-director) encouraged horticulture teacher Nancy Knight to create a plan to integrate community service into Tech’s curriculum. In 2007, Knight formed a CSL advisory committee to plan the integration of Community Service Learning into the school’s curriculum, beginning with last year’s freshmen.
With a CSL funding grant, the program kicked off last fall with a COASTSWEEP at Red River and Bank Street beaches in Harwich. “Students reflected on their experience in English classes by writing about the most interesting item they found during the beach cleanup,” Phelan said. “In math classes, they solved problems about the amount of trash they collected.”
Last spring, the freshman class helped AmeriCorps’ fire-prevention outreach, removing dead wood and invasive species at Thompson’s Field in East Harwich. Last month the CSL grant was renewed, enabling the program to enter its second year. Grant money is used primarily for transportation.
Now sophomores, the class of 2011 works in small groups on community service projects related to their technical shops. Next year they will serve as CSP mentors for freshmen.
In order to graduate, all Cape Tech seniors must complete a project. “With the class of 2011 being the first class to be involved with CSL, we anticipate many selecting projects that will help their communities,” Knight said.
Phelan said he and his faculty are “proud to have our students engaged in working cooperatively with our sending towns and civic organizations for the benefit of their communities.” CSL Coordinator Beth Leonard said, “Working in their communities serving their neighbors and sharing their talents and abilities increases students’ understanding of a culture of service, citizenship and community responsibility.”
Students enjoyed Monday’s outing, despite 30 mph winds. “I think it’s good to learn more about recycling efforts,” said Dakota Eno-Proux of Dennisport. Jacob Steiger of Osterville added, “I like learning about what I’m picking up at the beach and how harmful things like bottles, beer cans and plastic toys can be to our ecosystem.”
Nicole Muller can be reached at nmuller@cnc.com.
