Makayla Cox (15 | Carson, California) has always enjoyed the beach, spending time with her family and friends at the pier, boogie boarding in the water, and playing in the sand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she became concerned about what she was hearing about Venice Beach—the second-most visited place in Southern California—in the news and how it was becoming a place people did not want to visit due to an increasing amount of litter. As someone who participated in beach clean-ups since she was 7 years old, Makayla discovered there were few of these events once restrictions were lifted. Because of this, she created the nonprofit Clean Up the Beach in September 2022.

Through Clean Up the Beach, Makayla organizes monthly clean-ups along Venice Beach, the Muscle Beach Boardwalk, and nearby parking lots. Her events, which engage volunteers from age 5 through late-70s, encourage people to respect the environment while having fun: Makayla has incorporated gift raffles and scavenger hunts into each clean-up, incentivizing her now more than 250 volunteers to participate regularly. As she looks forward, Makayla wants to address some of the more root-causes behind the litter. By the end of 2024, she aspires to fill or replace the hollow wooden logs that serve as a marker between parking lots and the Boardwalk in an effort to reduce trash that gets caught inside, as well as replace existing Boardwalk trash cans with heavy duty bins that have lids and separate compartments for trash and recyclables.