Young legends clean up Australian beach awards
Fri 19 May 2006
Holly Barrell, Journalism
Students from the Southern Cross Catholic College in Scarborough, north of Brisbane, have won a national clean beach award.
The Keep Australia Beautiful 2006 Clean Beach Young Legends award recognises outstanding environmental achievements by youths from across Australia.
Three year 10 Marine Science classes of 2005 (now in year 11) ‘adopted’ Queen’s Beach North at Scarborough as a council incentive to take care of the local environment and get young people involved.
“This program is hugely beneficial for both the students and for Redcliffe residents,” Redcliffe Mayor, Allan Sutherland said.
“I was delighted to hear the news. Three awards in 10 months, doesn’t get better than that,” Cr Sutherland said.
This is the third Keep Australia Beautiful award for the Redcliffe Peninsula in just 10 months.
Marine Studies teacher at Southern Cross Catholic College, Peter Slaughter said the students performed various tasks relating to coastal geography, coastal engineering works, sand replenishment and water quality.
The students were responsible for taking care of the beach and cleaning the rubbish from the water while snorkelling offshore. Through conducting experiments and monitoring the foreshore animals and plants, Mr Slaughter said his students gained a sense of pride from the program.
“The Adopt-a-Beach program, sponsored by Redcliffe City Council, was integrated with Southern Cross’ junior marine studies program. With Queens Beach North located 1km from Southern Cross Catholic College the site was regularly accessed for student field trips,” Mr Slaughter said.
“Winning the State Award was a pleasant surprise gathering national recognition and reinforced Queens Beach North as a great outdoor learning venue for junior students,” he said.
Robyn Killoran, Principal of Southern Cross Catholic College, said the students and school were fortunate to have access to Queen’s Beach North which is popular for locals and tourists.
“It’s beneficial for our students to take on a community project as it associates not only growth in themselves but also community recognition of their work,” Mrs Killoran said.
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