Two youngsters from Harvest Christian Academy are proving that doing good doesn’t require recognition—just heart. By leading through action, they’re inspiring others to lend a hand while helping care for Guam, one beach at a time. They’re youth proving a simple act of goodness could spark a chain reaction.

From the sand to the sea, Cianna Santos and Nehal Kodiyamplakkal just wanted to take care of the beauty that surrounds them, kicking off beach cleanups last year.  “We wanted to give back to our community, and we thought that the best way to do this was through our community service," explained Kodiyamplakkal. "So, we decided to do beach cleanups. We initially started as just a one-time thing to see how it goes and just give back to the community, and we realized it’s actually making a huge impact.”

The duo, who are both representatives of Tamuning, Tumon and Harmon in the Guam Youth Congress, holding 10 beach cleanups at 3 sites, and collecting 1,100 pounds of trash along the way. But they didn’t do it alone after some time, garnering help along their journey. 

Santos said, “We’ve been to Tamuning, we’ve been to Alupang, and we’ve also been to...Matapang Beach. Initially, it was Nehal and I who started the clean-ups. Who helped? All the volunteers—we’ve had a lot of sister military coming in, many students from many different schools also join us.”

Santos on why the effort is so crucial said, “It is important to keep our beaches clean, not just for the beach's sake, but there’s also wildlife, and it also affects people too, with polluted beaches. So, a good reminder is when we go to these beaches and parks to take care of our trash and look after what we do.”

Their next cleanup is slated for February 15 at Ypao Beach Park from 8-9:30am. The public is invited to participate. To keep up with future clean ups, visit @ciannagyc and @nehalgyc on Instagram for updates.