In mid-September, five Harker seniors joined 75 volunteers involved with the California Coastal Cleanup Day by spending several hours picking up litter scattered about Los Gatos Creek between Park and Santa Clara Avenues in downtown San Jose. The coastal cleanup program is the state’s largest volunteer effort and covers all coasts and inland waterways.

“We helped picked up nearly three tons of garbage, including a two-person inflatable raft, sofa, mattress, box springs and a couple of car batteries,” recalled Izzy Connell, whose father helped spearhead the effort, which concluded with a raffle for a bike from REI and time out to enjoy a bagged lunch.

Pictured here are Harker volunteer participants Izzy Connell, Daniel Wang and Ryan Mui.