Plastic pollution: ‘Houston, We have a problem!’

A swirling plastic island of pollution in the Pacific was the sipping subject on March 17 at LBCC’s Women’s History Month Sip’N’Science night hosted by Long Beach City College’s MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) Program.

Pub sliders, potato chips, cookies, coffee, and bottled water were offered at the evening session, welcoming a full room of curious candidates from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m making it available to students working during the day.

^{LBCC students are greeted with coffee at the Women’s History Month Sip N’ Science event on the Liberal Arts campus on March 17, alongside food and snacks provided by the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA). (Jayleen Vasquez)}

LBCC’s 2026 Women’s History Month’s theme is “providing mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors’ with Katie Allen, Executive Director of Algalita, as the guest speaker for this month’s workshop.

Algalita is a local marine research facility that focuses on plastic pollution.

“We envision a world where plastic pollution is unthinkable. Our action plan: design and deliver educational experiences that empower individuals to understand the full-scope of plastic pollution’s impact on people and the planet,” Algalita said in their official mission statement.

^{Katie Allen, Executive Director of Algalita Marine Research and Education and guest speaker during the Women’s History Month Sip N’ Science presents to LBCC students on navigating STEM on March 17. the Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Achievement (MESA), hosted the event. (Jayleen Vasquez)}

Allen chose a nontraditional pathway beginning right here on the LBCC campuses and it has brought her back to share her gifts of knowledge and experience in the science of water.

The event was led by a trio of Amy Lee, director of MESA, Lizeth Perez, professor in physical science and Erika Calle-Pope, professor in biology.

The hosts kicked off the evening with trivia game questions regarding water, pollution and the environment.

Creating a more sustainable future brought students from many majors, allowing an opportunity to rethink, redesign, or even possibly replace their plans for a future in water pollution.

Kaitlyn Kuch-Ly, a biology major, really related to Allen’s story, which offered some relief 

about ‘figuring out’ the future.

President of The Environmental Action Movement here at LBCC, she shares a concern about our water and the environment, focusing her passion on environmental science and policy.

“When (Allen) said that she had taken calculus three times, I completely understood because I was in the same exact boat at LBCC. I passed my third time, luckily,” Kuch-Ly said.

Scientifically speaking, most of the food and beverage items were processed with chemicals and may contain plastics.

Allen’s nontraditional pathway began at LBCC, but she would not have it any other way.

“I couldn’t pass my calculus class,” said Allen as she presented her personal journey and ideas on navigating higher education in today’s environment.

Taking a non-linear path by not graduating from college and pursuing her degrees in higher education led her to a job at Warner Brothers Studios.

Allen was the executive assistant to the vice president of the merchandise department that made ‘merch’ for the artists.  

“Before I went to Warner Brothers, I was a terrible writer. Like, I could not write an email. I just, I can’t spell. Like I just said, I’m just not good at it,” said Allen.

She continues sharing how there was one woman who worked in the department who taught her email etiquette.

“As I look back, that translated to Algalita and back like now I’m writing grants and I feel like that relationship that I had with her was one of the biggest things that remained with me. She was somebody who took her under their wing and had the courage to mention to her, ‘Your grammar is terrible. Let me help you,” said Allen. 

^{LBCC Student Dez Mitchell participates in science trivia questions while enjoying food and drinks at the Women’s History Month Sip N’ Science event on March 17. Students received stickers as prizes after participating. (Jayleen Vasquez)}

“SIP’N’Science is an effort that we pulled together three years ago when we realized that a lot of our students, especially our first-gen underrepresented students, don’t see themselves in a lot of the STEM fields,” said Lee.

Lee shared that this was an effort to make science a little bit more accessible to create that exposure.

“If we bring the speakers to them in a very relaxed environment, hence the SIP and Science, we’re sipping coffee, learning about science,” Lee said.

Building confidence and resilience in the face of adversity and allowing yourself to take a different path may just lead you to your dream career.

“I thought it was really extremely informative. Katie was super open about her educational path.

And I think the fact that it wasn’t extremely linear was very inspiring,” said Kuch-Ly

^{LBCC students grab stickers provided as prizes during trivia at the Women’s History Month Sip N’ Science event on Mar. 17. (Jayleen Vasquez)}