When Kimberly Birge-Liberman announced in the Unity & Diversity of Biological Systems Pronto chat that this was a “rain-or-shine event,” she meant it! Armed with seven Home Depot buckets, the park cleanup crew found their way around tall hemlocks and bushes to obtain and remove a variety of trash; everything ranging from beer bottles and styrofoam to socks and towels. During the Pixel Festival weekend, on January 31st, a group of 6 OHS students and Mrs. Birge-Liberman, OHS Biology Instructor, met at the Bayland Nature Preserve in Palo Alto and set out with the goal of collecting as much trash as possible!
When asked about the motivation behind the event, Ellie Shen (‘27), President of the Climate Action Project said, “we wanted an in-person action event to help the environment and I thought that this was really important because the Climate Action Club should do action things.”
This event marks the first of its kind in several years, the last one held at Monterey. Shen said, “The event went great considering the fact that we haven’t had a park clean-up or beach clean-up since 2021, where this event kind of revived that, having OHSers being on-site and interacting with one another and the environment.”
Every detail of the event was planned with great care, including the location, ensuring that the effort had a broader environmental impact beyond just the park itself.
“We chose the location of a bayland, as all of the water in that specific area flows all the way into the ocean. Therefore, cleaning up the trash before it gets into the ocean is really helpful to the organisms that live in the ocean,” said Shen.
Birge-Liberman, mentions the event “was a very student-run event,” and highlighted the unique significance of the event for an online high school.
“It brought students together in-person, where we are in-person and actively doing something to help the earth. And we are outside, which is always a benefit — fresh air, and sunshine (more specifically rain)!”
During the event, students, parents, and instructors ran into David Aguirre, a City of Palo Alto Park Ranger at the Bayland Nature Preserve. “He was very warm and generous, and gave us some trash bags and offered garbage clippers,” says Birge-Liberman. Additionally, Aguirre handed out “Junior Park Ranger” stickers, which was a fun and unexpected bonus for the group.
Beyond picking up litter, the group was also able to appreciate the natural beauty of the Bayland Nature Preserve. “We saw quite a few bird species,” Shen and Birge-Liberman said.
Overall, when asked about whether they thought the event was successful, both Shen and Birge-Liberman said, “Absolutely! Yes!”
Despite the windy and rainy weather, the team persevered, collecting buckets of trash and making a tangible impact. Everyone in the OHS park-clean up event group earned their Palo Alto Open Space Nature Preserve Junior Park Ranger stickers!