This year, the school’s first Oceanic Preservation and Awareness (OPA) Club has been established by a group of seniors in order to raise awareness on how to help save the ocean.

Senior Kai Ditore, president of OPA, had been planning on creating the club for two years before the ultimate formation of it this year.

“I first came up with OPA when I was a sophomore at Martin High School,” Ditore said. “I then spent the entirety of my junior year at AHS planning and reaching out to potential club sponsors to make OPA a reality.”

The club plans to help people understand the importance of preserving the ocean, and plans on partaking in a special project at the end of each year.

“The ultimate goal of the club is to spread more awareness about how humans are destroying the environment, specifically the ocean, and the ways that we can help,” Erin Manriquez, senior and vice president of the club, said. “We’re also doing a big project at the end of the year, which is going to be the goal of the club every year. This year’s idea is ‘adopting’ a blue whale.”

The club is also working on publishing a children’s book about the whale that they will adopt.

“The goal is to get this work published in order to make as much of a difference as possible,” Ditore said. “We aim to teach children to cherish whales so that one day, blue whales will no longer be considered endangered.”

Currently, the club is selling stickers during B-lunch and during meetings in room B212.

“We’re selling a pack of five stickers for two dollars, and we raise money with that,” Manriquez said. “Part of it will go towards the club because we have no funds, since this is our first year, and part of it will go towards donating it to organizations and charities that help the ocean. Some of the money will also be going towards the whale that we’re going to adopt, too.”

The club’s future plans also include various activities that will involve the members in helping protect the ocean.

“These projects can range from creating a student run documentary over recycling to painting a mural of an endangered species,” Ditore said. “We also have written letters to local fisheries urging them to pick up sustainable fishing habits and have thrown in a few movies and games along the way.”

OPA welcomes anyone who wants to help protect the ocean, and meet in room B212 every Wednesday during B-lunch.

“Global warming is a reality that is entirely man-made,” Ditore said. “If there is an opportunity to revitalize the Earth, then it must start with the ocean.”