Ever since I began my education at South Pasadena High School, I've been heavily involved in Compost Culture, a student-run non-profit that works to collect food waste and turn it into nutrient-dense compost. This felt like a natural choice for me, given my passion for environmental science that has followed me since the 4th grade. Compost Culture targets food waste, which is a major issue that largely goes unsolved. In my community, unless you possess a large backyard where you can compost yourself, the only way to get rid of food scraps is by throwing them away, thus contributing to landfills where they will slowly decompose, leading to the release of methane, which can majorly contribute to global warming. At Compost Culture, our mission is to reduce food waste through community action, thus creating solutions that allow our community to both become more educated on the importance of composting and reduce the volume of food waste being disposed of. When I first got involved in Compost Culture, I started off working at our farmer's market booth, where we collect compost from local residents. While this work was difficult, being able to interact with my community during this experience was invaluable, and it felt that we were making a significant difference by collecting numerous bins of compost that otherwise would've made their way into landfills. Currently, I am the Director of Education at Compost Culture. In this position, my main job is to go to local schools, where I host workshops that help to educate students on the importance of composting. We bring both mulch and food scraps to these workshops, allowing us to create compost in real time with the students. This highlights the many ways in which Compost Culture works to mitigate food waste; it isn't just about collecting actual food scraps, but also about educating the future generation so that they will be inspired to continue making change. Next year, I am going to take on the position of CEO of Compost Culture. With this increased responsibility, I will be in charge of not only volunteer coordination, but also the creation of new ways in which Compost Culture can mitigate food waste. I plan to continue our current programs while also finding new ways to collect food waste, such as the home pickup of food scraps and the collection of food scraps at both the high school and middle school. In addition, I want to expand our education program by participating in more environmental conventions and fairs, allowing us to spread the word about our mission and garner more food scrap contributors. This way, Compost Culture can continue to expand within the community, allowing us to get closer to our goal of eliminating South Pasadena food waste. The community we have in South Pasadena has been incredibly supportive of Compost Culture. Both the local farmers market and community garden have worked with us to create compost, giving me hope that we can continue to succeed in our mission. Not all environmental solutions can be created through government initiatives; some must begin at the local scale, where they can better work to transform the communities they serve.