Pioneer High School students Julissa Bautista and Sukhjit Shergill will hold a Sacramento River clean-up event 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 25, at Discovery Park located at 1600 Garden Hwy. in Sacramento.

The event was created by Bautista, 18, and Shergill, 17, as part of a “Caring for our Watersheds Contest” the two have been participating in.

Last month, the two high school seniors placed fifth out of 300 proposals from classmates and students at other schools, which made their AP environmental science teacher, Elizabeth Christopher, “incredibly proud.”

“I gave them some background information on watersheds and background of our watershed, which is the Cache Creek watershed and is part of the larger Sacramento Valley watershed, but that was it,” Christopher stated in an email.

She argued that the best part of this project is that “it’s realistic” and “can be implemented and copied by other groups.”

“Many people are afraid of trying to do things in an environmentally conscious way for fear of doing it wrong, but what we need is many people doing things imperfectly rather than a few people doing things perfectly to solve the issues that we’re facing,” Christopher emphasized. “Progress, not perfection.”

The Saturday morning clean-up will be held in partnership with the American River Parkway Foundation, the Caring for Our Watersheds Program, Pioneer High School and the Putah Creek Council, according to the students.

Bautista and Shergill explained that the event will feature hiking and trash clean up allowing participants to beautify the surrounding area and river bank while enjoying recreation. To incentivize participation and thank their volunteers, prizes ranging from $20 gift cards to $50 gift baskets will be raffled and a variety of snacks and water will be provided.

“We came into this class not knowing anything about the environment and environmental dilemmas,” Bautista stressed. “Now, we’ve had an introduction to basically everything environmental-related and this project has inspired me to try to create environmental change.”

Additionally, Bautista said her experience in this project and her environmental science is why she will be attending UC Davis next year to study environmental science with the goal of becoming a future urban planner for Woodland.

Shergill was accepted to UC Davis as well but will be studying neurobiology, physiology and behavior. However, she noted that the work she’s done on this project has taught her that “it’s so easy to make a change.”

“I don’t have to be interested specifically in the environmental field, but I can still make a change through this simple project,” she expressed.

As members of Generation Z, Bautista and Shergill said they understand the consequences inaction is having and will continue to have in the future.

“I know it’s hard to make large-scale change but if you can make change on a local scale, that is still better than making zero change at all,” Bautista stressed. “We’re just working here to improve the water quality on a local scale. It’s not going to solve every environmental issue, but it’s something everybody can do.”

Shergill agreed with Bautista noting that their generation has always been aware of their environment and the impact people have on it.

“We can’t make the whole world green, but if we can make our local river clean, that’s enough for us,” she remarked.

If interested in signing up, visit apps.arpf.org/volunteer-opportunities?VO=558. Volunteers 17 and under must bring a youth waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian and those under 15 must be accompanied at all times by a parent or legal guardian, according to the website.