My project was founded on one simple premise: human beings, in fact all living creatures, have an inherent right to clean water. Every day at school, students look out the window to see the polluted Hackensack River juxtaposed with a horizon of ominous corporate offices, hotels, and entertainment centers. Currently, a 100 foot buffer zone, overrun with garbage and permeated with pollution, separates the football field from the river itself. My passion to conserve, protect, and beautify the Hackensack River and its immediate onshore surroundings stem from my biology teacher, Ms. Carol Zepatos, who reminds students how imminent environmental changes must be made in order to combat river pollution and revive the picturesque beauty the river once had. Never will I forget a lab in which water tests exhibited extremely high levels of toxic chemicals as well as abnormal pH. It is bad enough we as humans have to live in a community adjacent to the state’s most polluted watershed, but it is alarming that both fish and bird lives depend on the river’s environment. For me, this was an environmental wakeup call that compelled me to take immediate action in order to alleviate the problem.

My project transformed an unattractive river walk way, a rare “green” recreational area in an urban city, into a more visually pleasing area for the public and a safer habitat for wildlife to thrive. Through the Hackensack River Clean Up and Planting, I bridged various dimensions of the community together in search for a common goal: to improve the environment. Not only did I inspire them to be committed to the environment, but I increased volunteer involvement for my future projects. I educated the public with information about the river through a school and community wide educational outreach program. I run my school’s SkillsUSA chapter, an organization premised on civil service and technical skills. Subsequently, I wanted to create a community service project that fulfilled a commitment to service and simultaneously shed positive light on the importance of technical education. Inspired by an environmental class I took, I instituted a river cleanup program that not only stressed environmental conservation and community cooperation, but was also sustainable as future generations of students will continue the project. I wanted to have an immense impact on the mile long walkway near my school so I began by reaching out for resources by applying to community service grants. I ran a school wide campaign that emphasized education and solicited over a hundred volunteers. Additionally, I had a nonprofit booth at the NJ PSEG Green Fest where I presented on my project to raise awareness and was interviewed in the newspaper and on television.

The PSEG Green Fest and the vast media attention I received allowed me to achieve one of my most prominent goals: to increase the audience of our project in order to have a wider net of exposure for our project. For example, it should be noted that the Bergen Record has over 82,000 daily subscribers as well as a popular website. Also, News 12 broadcasts to over 107,000 homes in New Jersey. As a result, viewers and readers learned about the inspiration behind the project and my efforts to bring the community together. More importantly, I challenged them to take an active part in preserving the environment in their areas and to reach out to students to take a role as well since they are the next generation of leaders and conservationists. The media and the Green Fest provided me excellent opportunities to reach out to others; however, I also took steps in my school community to spread the word.
I believe that sustainability and long term positive improvement in clean up are highly dependent on educating the next generation of conservationists- students. Subsequently, I hosted presentations for guest speakers such as the aforementioned landscaper to spend an hour talking to students about the challenges the river currently faces and measures that need to be imminently taken in order to reverse the trend of pollution. Whenever an opportunity rose, such as the visit of sixty students from Hong Kong, I capitalized on it. I encouraged them to initiate a similar river cleanup program in their city as they told me about similarly discouraging details about their environment. I even went to the grade school next to my high school and gave an interactive lesson to a class of twenty five students about small measures they can take in their daily lives to become less taxing on the environment.

Tangibly, the results have been extremely positive already as new plants have taken life upon the river, creating the foundation for healthy food for the animals and the plants will facilitate the filtering of toxic pollutants as well. By providing the Bergen County public with a beautiful “green” pathway, we will enhance public appreciation for the Hackensack River, thereby encouraging public participation in protecting the river’s environment. In the future, at least one major cleanup will be conducted every three months with smaller, more focused cleanups interspersed. In the spring, plantings will be continued and once the water is warmer, coir log installation will be continued down the coast to reduce erosion. In March, I will return to the PSEG Green Fest to demonstrate the impact that one student had on the environment so that more students will be inspired to create similar projects.