Virginia Beach is a coastal city. We enjoy the Chesapeake Bay as well as the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean pollution starts on land and our city works hard to get the message out that it is up to it's citizens to do their part to keep our waterways clean so we can enjoy the coastal lifestyle. We have thousands of volunteers participate in the annual Clean the Bay Day event along with several groups sponsoring beach cleanups every month. Sustainable Actions in Your Community: We have an Ecology Club at Hermitage Elementary consisting of 5th graders. The Chesapeake Bay is part of our school zone. We have about 4 miles of bay shoreline. It is important to teach our students the importance of the Chesapeake Bay. We sponsor school wide activities such as beach cleanups, plastic free campaigns, oyster restoration, celebrating Earth Day, growing grasslands in the classroom. We are a public school and our students are mostly military connected. These students are with us for a few years, but take the environmental message with them to their next duty station. We are making a difference. We would like to participate in the parachute program. We have a message to share and this is an impactful way to get noticed.