To celebrate Earth Day 2018, EF International Language School’s Santa Barbara campus and Heal the Ocean conducted a cleanup of the Santa Barbara County coastline on April 20. EF International’s 300-member student body, along with staff and teachers, tackled 10 beaches from Goleta to Summerland.

They took public transportation to the beaches in a program organized by Heal the Ocean. The students all wore Heal the Ocean t-shirts and used old horse-feed bags provided by La Cumbre Feed instead of plastic trash bags.

After the cleanup, Heal the Ocean executive director Hillary Hauser joined Santa Barbara City Council member Gregg Hart and EF International Santa Barbara School director Kristen Reilly to celebrate and praise the students for their work.

Hart emphasized the importance of community involvement to help with projects like this.
 
EF International, which has campuses around the world, has developed an annual Ocean & Environmental Awareness campaign called Every Day is Earth Day.

This was the third year for the program in Santa Barbara. It kicked off earlier this month with Heal the Ocean operations coordinator Corey Radis speaking to students at EF International Santa Barbara campus.

EF International plans to introduce the Santa Barbara beach cleanup model to other EF schools on the West Coast, including San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as Honolulu. EF International includes some 40 schools and offices in 53 countries.

— Hillary Hauser for Heal the Ocean.