JDAY - Santa Monica, California

"J Day is a nationwide celebration of the power of international exchange. International exchange participants will come together with their American hosts to "eat, play, and give" -- to share cultural diversity and American customs, to give back to their communities, and to have some fun. J Day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) and spread the word about the power and breadth of cultural exchange." - Alliance Exchange  

On August 1, 2017, World Wide Cultural Exchange's coordinators and over 100 participants joined together to EAT (pizza). PLAY (in the sun). GIVE (a helping hand to Santa Monica beach).

As a Los Angeles based company, the California coast is near and dear to us. The ocean is a vital ecosystem, and human activity is threatening it's livelihood. Together, with Heal the Bay, our group collected over 300 (yikes!) pieces of trash littered across the shoreline at Santa Monica Pier. Through this clean-up, we discovered how our seemly small actions (like not ensuring a piece of plastic is properly put into a trash can) collectively become one big problem. And even if picking up one piece of plastic didn't seem to change the world, by the end of the day, our group had made a huge positive impact. Each day, we have the choice to make our world a little better or a little worse - all of our actions matter. Today, we chose to make our world a little better. WWCE hopes this inspires everyone in our program and beyond to make the same choice each day. With this mindset, we can build stronger global connections and maintain a world to explore for generations to come!