Meet Alex, our new Community Events Intern!

We are excited to welcome our newest intern Alex to the ILACSD team!

Hey San Diego! I’m Alex and I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining I Love A Clean San Diego as their Community Events Intern! A little bit about me: I’m a senior at Point Loma Nazarene University majoring in International Studies. I was lucky enough to spend a semester in San Jose, Costa Rica my junior year. While there, I had the opportunity to watch (and help!) baby sea turtles hatch and waddle their way into the night waves one weekend. It’s an experience I’ll always remember, in part because the opportunity was given to me by the small community of Ostional, which comes together in very practical ways to protect the environment.

When it came time to choose an internship, I knew I wanted to intern somewhere that educated people about the importance of the environment and its stewardship. But more than that, I wanted an organization that provided useful, applicable ways for individuals to do their part. I had high hopes for ILACSD and they were all met at the first Tsunami Sweepers clean up at Torrey Pines on Saturday.

The day was overcast and foggy when I pulled into the parking lot. I’d never been to a cleanup before, so I had no idea what to expect. I soon found out we were hoping for at least 25 volunteers and was so excited to know that we not only reached that minimum, but completely surpassed it! The volunteers each split off into groups of three or four and made their way through the shores picking up normal trash and looking for anything that could be washing ashore from Japan. As they returned, I weighed the trash and recyclables as Laura, another ILACSD intern I had the pleasure of meeting, recorded the weights. Overall, we weighed in 65lbs of trash and 30lbs of recycling that were picked up in a just a few hours!

Some people might think handling trash bags is icky. I’m usually in that boat. But the fact that this large group of folks came out on a cold, foggy Saturday morning to clean up a beach was inspiration enough for me to not even think twice about it until I got home. Parents volunteering with their kids, service members bringing their families, and witnessing the willingness to help on everyone’s faces just go to show me that even though I’m one person, my small act, when teamed with the small acts of others, can really make a difference in my community.

I look forward to the Tsunami Sweeper cleanups ILACSD has planned in the future, as well as next weekend’s Cupid’s Cleanup in Pacific Beach. As someone who before Saturday had never gone out to an unfamiliar location to work with unfamiliar faces, I can honestly say it’s worth it and I’m hooked!