Octagon Sweeps the Shore

Alissa Persad, William Meyers, Ryan Smith, Mike Degrazia, and Ryan Chiu at the Beach Sweep

Alyssa Persad, Octagon Liaison

This past weekend, Octagon club members were getting their hands dirty at Point Pleasant.

Over twenty Octagon members took part in Clean Ocean Action’s annual beach sweep. Students willingly spent their morning scowering the beach for trash in order to help clean up our shores. Beach Sweep is an event that Octagon takes part in every year. The next beach sweep will be in April, and the goal is to send even more volunteers to the event.

In addition, the Octagon club also participated in Griebling Elementary school’s annual Trunk or Treat. Griebling parents decorated their cars with fun themes and then the kids went around to the cars and trick-or-treated. Octagon members helped in various ways at the event. Some of the Octagon members were inside the school playing games with the kids and doing crafts, like decorating pumpkins, while the rest helped to direct traffic in and out of the school.

The outgoing Octagon members also taught the elementary school kids how to dance. They performed the chicken dance, the cupid shuffle, the cha cha slide, and the cotton-eye Joe. All of the Octagon members at the event helped to judge a freeze dance competition and helped hand out prizes. The elementary school children—and the octagon volunteers— had a blast.

One of the next upcoming events that Octagon will be participating in is the Hunger Challenge. Freehold Township High School will be having a school-wide food drive during the month of November. Octagon is hoping for an overwhelming amount of donated food to be sent to the food bank.