By Nelson Araque -
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
The beach clean-up group led by Cardinal Gibbons HIgh School students Juliette Selmeci and Tristan Hutchison pose with their "catch."
FORT LAUDERDALE | As a theology teacher, my curriculum this semester centered on the Old Testament. In the Book of Genesis, we see how God created everything and gave it to us as a gift to be protected and preserved. This year, I was looking for a practical opportunity to teach my students about our duties regarding God’s creation.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Cardinal Gibbons students Tristan Hutchison and Juliette Selmeci, seated, pose with Dawn Bosaller of Fort Lauderdale's Youth Leadership Development Program.
Ellen Henehan, our campus minister, told me that two separate groups of juniors were planning a beach clean-up to celebrate Earth Day, April 25. It was their project for the Fort Lauderdale Youth Leadership Development Program. One group was led by Shawn Walker and Francesco Rizzo, supervised by Coach Donnell Bennett; and the other was led by Juliette Selmeci and Tristan Hutchison and supervised by Henehan.
I asked Juliette, Tristan and Shawn if some of my freshmen and sophomores could join them in this initiative, as such an undertaking would provide a practical way to be stewards of God’s creation.
Juliette is very passionate about scuba diving and marine life. She said her motivation in putting together this project was “to raise awareness among youth about the protection of marine life from the harmful effects of trash. Preventing trash from entering the marine environment by cleaning the beach …helps the lives of birds, too. It also fuels Florida’s tourist industries.”
Juliette added that when she thinks of the beach she thinks about a “relaxing place. Keeping it clean makes the beach a more relaxing and enjoyable place.”
Tristan said his motivation was that he sees the beach as a “place to relax and unwind.” At the beach, “You can forget all your worries and troubles and just enjoy yourself.”
He added that “our world offers so much for us human beings. Now it’s our time to give back to it.”
Shawn and Francesco told me they enjoyed the day and they felt good about helping out and protecting local reefs from man’s constant assaults.
All of the students were impressed by how many people came up to them throughout the day and thanked them for what they were doing.
Cleaning the beach with them on that very hot but pleasant day also helped me to learn more about these students. They demonstrated a sense of purpose through this meaningful extracurricular activity on a day when they could have been enjoying themselves at another beach. They chose to put everything aside to take care of a portion of creation.
In keeping with the words of Genesis (1:10) my students and I can say that we saw how good God’s creation really is.
Araque teaches theology at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
The second beach clean-up group, led by Cardinal Gibbons students Shawn Walker and Francesco Rizzo pose for a photo at their "work place."
