More than 65 students in grades four to eight volunteered to clean up Wildcat Creek, which runs behind the Saratoga school's grounds. They were permitted by the Santa Clara Valley Water District to open a normally locked gate to gain access to the creek and they worked for more than two hours on April 20.

The zealous students, parent volunteers and representatives from the sponsoring organization, West Valley Clean Water Program, picked up debris that had been blown into the creek from the school lunch area, streets and school yard. The garbage had been carried into the creek by winter rain storms.

"It's gross," said seventh-grader Elizabeth Carte, picking up trash near the fence line of the school property. "This shows you how the trash grows. One little piece from everyone becomes a big amount."

Armed with clipboards and pencils, students tracked each piece of trash they picked up, such as random bolts and screws or more common potato chip bags, candy wrappers and beverage containers.

The creek monitoring trash activity will help water program officials determine where the majority of the trash comes from and what behaviors are contributing to the trash. The students were also given gloves, bags for recyclable items and long-handled grippers to pick up hard-to-reach rubbish.

Parent volunteer Georgia Ellenikiotis, the school's Christian service commissioner, said the students received two community service hours for the activity. Each grade level is required to complete a different amount of community service, which includes activities such as playing bingo with senior citizens, assisting at homeless shelters or organizing food drives. Even though the creek cleanup was optional, Ellenikiotis said she was pleased the event had a high turnout. This was the school's third year participating in the creek cleanup event.

"It's fun to be cleaning up with all your friends," said Marianne Gera, a seventh-grader who also serves as the safety and ecology commission officer for the school. "It's helping the environment instead of trashing it."

Before beginning the trash cleaning expedition, students were instructed by Cheri Donnelly, West Valley Clean Water Program's manager, about safety rules, how to avoid poison oak and how to not disrupt the creek's natural habitat. She also showed students photographs of concentrated levels of garbage that can accumulate farther downstream if not prevented or remedied through volunteer cleanup efforts.

Wildcat Creek flows into the San Tomas Aquino Creek and then into Moffet Channel. From there, the water travels through Guadalupe Slough before entering the lower San Francisco Bay, according to Donnelly.

"It's an eye opener for these kids to realize what comes from their own backyard--plastic straws, food wrappers, chip bags, snack bags, bottle caps, water bottles," Ellenikiotis said.

Before the students were allowed to go through the locked gate and head down the steel embankment to access the creek, they had to comb the grounds and collect all the trash that had piled up along the fence line. Kathy Ottenberg, an assistant with the water program, said she hoped the students would take away a sense of responsibility and awareness about not littering in Saratoga.

"We're all partners of the larger community, and our actions and caring about the creek do make a difference," she said. "The creek is part of their campus, but they probably don't notice it on a daily basis."

Marianne pointed out that much of the trash on the school campus and in the creek was the result of carelessness. She added that the school has implemented a recycling program in the classrooms, and classes are also required to periodically clean up the school yard. Sacred Heart students have been studying topics in their science classes like erosion, pollution and how animals can be affected by trash. In addition, the creek cleanup day also tied into national river cleanup day coming up on May 21 and fell close to Earth Day on April 22.

Donnelly also stressed the importance of the creek cleanup as a savings for taxpayers. In the Los Angeles area, a severe trash problem has resulted in the need for costly filters and trash inserts in storm drain pipes to catch the trash before it can run downstream, she said.

While Santa Clara County isn't listed as having an impaired trash problem and isn't being required to use such filters, representatives like Donnelly are preparing for the possibility of it occurring. The county must adhere to Clean Water Act standards.

"School grounds and their surrounding areas are well-known among creek and Bay environmentalists as a major source of beverage container and food wrapper trash, which ends up in our local creeks, streams and finally the Bay," Donnelly said. "We might look around the West Valley and say we don't have a trash problem, but all of our upstream food and beverage debris is carried by heavy rains to an unmanageable buildup of trash that is choking creeks in downstream areas."

Donnelly added she wished everyone would celebrate Earth Day like Sacred Heart students--by not being litterbugs.