TINIAN — On Sept. 21, 2024, the Tinian JROTC Stallion Battalion gathered at Unai Dankulo, also known as Long Beach, this year to pick up trash.
Every year, the main purpose of the international coastal cleanup is to keep our island and our waters clean and marine life thriving. For this location, it is also known that Long Beach is one of the many places where turtles lay their eggs on this island. Due to its location and transportation issues, we could only bring 17 cadets with us this year, and from there, cadets picked up all sorts of trash such as plastic bottles, small plastic bits such as bottle caps, cans, and even car parts.
Afterward, the instructors were also able to give lessons on some of the history behind Long Beach, such as historical sites and events.
From there, we asked a few cadets their thoughts on this year’s coastal clean-up.
C/PV2 Kya Adriano said, “This year was my first coastal cleanup, and for me, it was a great experience. I like that we all who attended got to help our planet by picking up debris around the island. I was really amazed at how many trash bags were filled with debris from around the beach. Overall we did a really good job in helping keep our island clean!”
“This year’s coastal cleaning was better than expected. However, I think to surpass those expectations we need more participation,” said C/1LT Noah Cepeda. “Other than that, we worked with what we had and we did our best to clean up as much trash as we could.”
“This year’s coastal cleanup was a success for the Stallion Battalion! Instead of tackling the more common areas as usual, we decided to clean a beach back north that has been polluted with debris from the oceans. It felt amazing to take care of different parts of our islands that needed attention as well,” said C/LTC Ysabella Palacios. “Although we were not able to bring more cadets due to transportation issues, we still made a lasting impact on the island and will continue to find more ways to increase cadet involvement!”
The Stallion Battalion would like to thank Mr. Edwin Hofschneider for letting us participate in this year’s cleanup and BECQ for the cleanup supplies. We hope for more future events like this to maintain the beauty of our island and marine life thriving!
Cadets pick up trash along the shore.
Senior Army Instructor Captain Santos gives lessons on the history behind Long Beach.
A Stallion Battalion group photo.
