NEW RIVER, N.C. - An Earth Day Celebration kicked off aboard Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River with many educational booths and events for patrons and students of Dixon Middle School and DeLalio Elementary to participate in, April 22.
Approximately 350 students from both schools attended the Earth Day event, learning various topics from the individual booths about Earth Day such as fires, ocean wildlife and bees.
Eric Falkenhagen, MCAS New River Marina recreation specialist, organized the event and explained its importance to the air station as well as the importance of recycling.
“Having the kids here is a good start to teaching them about what today is,” said Falkenhagen. “Families live here. We come to work here every day and when we come in we want it to look good. Instead of throwing plastic and other recyclable items into the garbage we need to have more recycling bins so the opportunity to recycle is there.”
To Falkenhagen, having the children of both schools was a good step in the right direction to generate awareness for Earth Day.
The children went to each booth, learning about different things that affect or are in our environment, helping them learn the importance of Earth Day, he explained.
Forty Marine volunteers from Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron (HHS) and Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT) also participated in a shoreline clean up sponsored by MCAS New River environmental services.
Lance Cpl. Jaime Torres, CNATT student, volunteered for the shoreline clean up.
“I heard someone say ‘we’re going to volunteer to clean up the shoreline’ so I figured what better way to help out to keeping the environment clean,” said Torres.
Torres also believes the smallest things could make the biggest difference when it comes to keeping Earth clean.
“Whenever someone gets the chance, getting together with some friends and cleaning up one mile of the highway could make all the difference,” said Torres. “The idea could start with one person and spread to many.”
“This is the one planet we have so we have to make the best out of it,” said Falkenhagen.