OCC theatre department gives extra credit to promote coastal cleanup
September 24, 2022
An Orange Coast College theatre instructor gave out extra credit as an incentive for her students to clean up the beaches at the 38th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 17 at any of the designated cleanup spots.
Cynthia Corley, a theatre instructor, gave out extra credit for her students to join in on Coastal Cleanup Day and clean beaches as an effort to promote the event.
“My inbox this morning had lots of pictures of smiling students holding bags of trash at the beach,” Corley said. “Even when you get your rubber boots stuck in the mud so badly they get sucked right off your feet, it's weirdly satisfying, icky fun!”“At first I was just cleaning for the extra credit,” a student from Corley’s class, Ashkan Noori-Esfandiari said “I could have ended early but I ended up with a full bag of trash.”
Along with Corley, Theatre Department Chair Tom Bruno also joined in on the action on Saturday to clean up the coast.
“I participate in order to help our environment and the health of our planet and the creatures we share it with,” Bruno said.
Both Corley and Bruno had taken part in cleaning up the coast and had been using their class as one of many platforms to promote these activities. “In years past, the Theatre Department has promoted the event more heavily and a group of students met me out there in the Back Bay,” Bruno said.
They think OCC could do more to promote the day. “Maybe we could make it a part of social media awareness and promote it on the website and in the Coast-to-Coast newsletter for next year, or get some of the clubs to go,” Corley said.
“It’s a good idea for the school to promote activities like these,” Noori-Esfandiari said.