After graduating with my undergraduate degree in Environmental Systems Engineering from Stanford University, I dream of traveling to the most vulnerable corners of the world and hearing the voices of diverse marginalized communities; After returning to school for a master's degree and possibly a PhD, I have a goal to ultimately be a major part of initiating and implementing climate policy on an international scale in order to enact sustainable development within the global community and to tackle the world-wide crisis of anthropogenic climate change.

I am incredibly passionate about environmental protection, and throughout my life have become a leader in my school and local community, promoting conservation efforts on a variety of different issues. I founded (and currently serve as president of) the Hercules High Environmental Club, a student organization at my high school. It focuses on volunteering to improve and take care of the natural environment. My main motivation for starting my own club dedicated to environmental volunteering is my hope to tackle climate change. Through the Environmental Club, I also built important relationships with my city's local government, ultimately becoming a youth commissioner serving in the Community and Library Services Commission in the City of Hercules. This unpaid role in my local municipality empowers me to further promote community service, especially in the area of environmental justice. In fact, it was this opportunity that led to one of the most personally-impactful service initiatives in my life. During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of paper and food waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, interpreting budget implications and setting timelines, as well as managing communications with school administrators, city council members, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting countless day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by union concerns since it required custodians to collect additional organics bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with a team of adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope that my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower those who want to make a difference, yet are traditionally marginalized in professional settings. Since its launch in April of 2022, I have seen this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students; It humbles me to have sparked something that became much bigger than myself, making such a positive change in my community. I am pursuing a degree in environmental engineering so that I may soon work in partnership with the public sector, private industry, and nonprofit organizations toward sustainable development and environmental progress in my community. I’m understanding more and more that I will rely heavily on scholarships to finance my education so that I can focus on pursuing my goals. Having a financial barrier to learning is incredibly stressful, and I aim to utilize opportunities such as the Maverick Grill and Saloon Scholarship to achieve my dreams and create new innovations to solve greater environmental problems.

In my first year of high school, I became involved in a prolonged and impactful community service initiative. This was a peer tutoring program that I started after seeing a need for extra homework help among my peers at school. This service experience was different from any I had done in the past in that I wasn’t doing it just for the sake of completing community service; I had a genuine purpose that motivated my efforts, and a genuine hope to solve a problem in my community. I recruited volunteer peer tutors to spend time offering free homework help and tutoring to any student who wanted to get extra assistance, also organizing attendance spreadsheets, recording volunteer hours for all of the program’s tutors, volunteering my own time as a tutor three days a week, and successfully transitioning the program to an online platform during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It had become extremely important to me that students still had this free resource, especially during a year when school was completely virtual and presented even greater challenges to my peers. One experience I had with this program in particular truly shaped who I am and how I view community service. As a tutor, I worked with a freshman student who was taking a 9th-grade physics class during the “pandemic year” when everything was online. She was struggling with the class not only because of the difficult curriculum but also because she had a learning disability and was not being properly accommodated in the regular classroom environment. On the first day that she came to peer tutoring, she was shy, uncomfortable, and deeply distressed about the confusing curriculum. She told our team of tutors that she had a D in Physics and it was a major source of stress for her. After working one-on-one with her for several hours, I was able to see her truly understand the lesson she had been struggling with, answering questions on her own and completing the homework which had before brought her to tears. It was an extremely gratifying experience, and after that day, this student came to peer tutoring every single day, and wanted to work with me. Every hour I volunteered as a tutor ended up with this student, and I got to see the long-term positive educational as well as social impact that my volunteering had on an individual. By the end of the semester, she had a B in Physics and a better outlook on life, and I'm still gratified to know that I was part of this positive change in her life. Peer tutoring taught me that community service is empty unless there is a real purpose behind it, motivating me to become more involved in community service concerning the issues I care most about. I became an officer of my high school's volunteer club and now continue my efforts in community-based programs and initiatives. I have come a long way from my first experiences with community service, and I plan to continue serving those around me throughout my journey in higher education and career. I plan on majoring in Environmental Engineering because I have a passion for environmental protection. I want to be a leader in the fight against climate change, and I believe that individual acts of community service are essential. I hope to dedicate my career after graduation to building sustainable development programs so that everyone has equitable access to an environment that is healthy for humans as well as ecologically sustainable.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. I am the president of my high school’s Environmental Club as well as a youth commissioner advising my city's local government, and these outlets gave me the opportunity to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such a positive change in my community. I believe that, in order to safeguard the health of our only planet, its animals, and its people, society needs to listen to the voices that advocate for the right thing. It is imperative that everyone has a fair say in what our society does to impact the world around it, and that marginalized communities aren't left to bear the worst costs of climate change, pollution, deforestation, and global warming at the hands of the powerful few who create the mess. I fought for my seat at the table in order to make a positive impact that has reached and will continue to extend beyond my individual actions, and I believe that it should never be that difficult to do the right thing. When there is someone willing to put in the work to protect what really matters, it is nothing short of reckless to stand in their way.

In my first year of high school, I became involved in a prolonged and impactful community service initiative. This was a peer tutoring program that I started after seeing a need for extra homework help among my peers at school. This service experience was different from any I had done in the past in that I wasn’t doing it just for the sake of completing community service; I had a genuine purpose that motivated my efforts, and a genuine hope to solve a problem in my community. I recruited volunteer peer tutors to spend time offering free homework help and tutoring to any student who wanted to get extra assistance, also organizing attendance spreadsheets, recording volunteer hours for all of the program’s tutors, volunteering my own time as a tutor three days a week, and successfully transitioning the program to an online platform during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It had become extremely important to me that students still had this free resource, especially during a year when school was completely virtual and presented even greater challenges to my peers. One experience I had with this program in particular truly shaped who I am and how I view community service. As a tutor, I worked with a freshman student who was taking a 9th-grade physics class during the “pandemic year” when everything was online. She was struggling with the class not only because of the difficult curriculum but also because she had a learning disability and was not being properly accommodated in the regular classroom environment. On the first day that she came to peer tutoring, she was shy, uncomfortable, and deeply distressed about the confusing curriculum. She told our team of tutors that she had a D in Physics and it was a major source of stress for her. After working one-on-one with her for several hours, I was able to see her truly understand the lesson she had been struggling with, answering questions on her own and completing the homework which had before brought her to tears. It was an extremely gratifying experience, and after that day, this student came to peer tutoring every single day, and wanted to work with me. Every hour I volunteered as a tutor ended up with this student, and I got to see the long-term positive educational as well as social impact that my volunteering had on an individual. By the end of the semester, she had a B in Physics and a better outlook on life, and I'm still gratified to know that I was part of this positive change in her life. Peer tutoring taught me that community service is empty unless there is a real purpose behind it, motivating me to become more involved in community service concerning the issues I care most about. I became an officer of my high school's volunteer club and now continue my efforts in community-based programs and initiatives. I have come a long way from my first experiences with community service, and I plan to continue serving those around me throughout my journey in higher education and career. I plan on majoring in Environmental Engineering because I have a passion for environmental protection. I want to be a leader in the fight against climate change, and I believe that individual acts of community service are essential. I hope to dedicate my career after graduation to building sustainable development programs so that everyone has equitable access to an environment that is healthy for humans as well as ecologically sustainable.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first, it was easy enough to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. I was prescribed a renal diet, focusing specifically on low-sodium, as well as including other aspects that force me to watch what I eat with extreme care. I no longer eat at restaurants, and in fact, eat almost exclusively non-processed foods. I have learned how to cook for myself, as well as how to make healthy choices. Falling victim to a rare kindey condition is something I had no control over, but the way in which it has forced me to adapt my lifestyle has afforded me invaluable lessons in how to not only live a healthier life, but to understand my limits and my potential. Despite enduring heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and surgery because of this kidney condition, I still earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community. I refused to let Nephrotic deter my academic/professional outcomes, but rather teach me to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I’m in remission and manage my condition with medication and lab work. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone’s dealing with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about where I am, and what I know I can achieve in the future. Looking back, I see that Nephrotic Syndrome has ultimately made me a stronger person.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first, it was easy enough to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. I was prescribed a renal diet, focusing specifically on low-sodium, as well as including other aspects that force me to watch what I eat with extreme care. I no longer eat at restaurants, and in fact, eat almost exclusively non-processed foods. I have learned how to cook for myself, as well as how to make healthy choices. Falling victim to a rare kindey condition is something I had no control over, but the way in which it has forced me to adapt my lifestyle has afforded me invaluable lessons in how to not only live a healthier life, but to understand my limits and my strengths.

I am incredibly passionate about environmental protection, and throughout my life have become a leader in my school and local community, promoting conservation efforts on a variety of different issues. I founded (and currently serve as president of) the Hercules High Environmental Club, a student organization at my high school. It is focused around volunteering to improve and take care of the natural environment. My main motivation in starting my own club dedicated to environmental volunteering is my hope to tackle climate change in particular. Through the Environmental Club, I also built important relationships with my city's local government, ultimately becoming a youth commissioner serving in the Community and Library Services Commission in the City of Hercules. This unpaid role in my local municipality empowers me to further promote community service, especially in the area of environmental justice. In fact, it was this opportunity that led to one of the most impactful service initiatives for me. During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of paper and food waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, interpreting budget implications and setting timelines, as well as managing communications with school administrators, city council members, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting countless day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by union concerns since it required custodians to collect additional organics bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with a team of adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope that my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower those who want to make a difference, yet are traditionally marginalized in professional settings. Since its launch in April of 2022, I have seen this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students; It humbles me to have sparked something that became much bigger than myself, making such a positive change in my community. I am pursuing my degree in environmental engineering so that I may soon work in partnership with the public sector, private industry, and nonprofit organizations toward sustainable development and environmental progress in my community. I’m understanding more and more that I will rely heavily on scholarships to finance my education so that I can focus on pursuing my goals. Having a financial barrier to learning is incredibly stressful, and I aim to utilize opportunities such as the Richard Neumann Scholarship to achieve my dreams and create new innovations to solve more environmental problems.

I’ve been obsessed with environmental engineering since elementary school, when I learned about the alarming reality of climate change and became inspired to dedicate my education and career to environmental protection. In high school, opportunities to take challenging classes, become involved in my local community, gain professional work experience, and–most significantly–participate in research allowed my interest in STEM to snowball. Scientific research had the largest influence on my initial interest in STEM, and my first exposure to research in environmental science was through my school’s Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program, an engineering competition offered at high schools across the country. In my sophomore year, I competed in the MESA Think Tank Sustainability Challenge, leading a small team of three students through an eight-month-long study on water inefficiency in industrial agriculture. Almost all of my free time from August through March was consumed in scheduling meetings, running experiments, prototyping, creating video presentations, and extensive preliminary investigation. Ultimately our team was able to engineer a working water-efficient alternative system to conventional agriculture, win local and regional MESA competitions, and learn about interesting new topics along the way. This beyond-the-classroom research experience sparked my curiosity about other environmental science subjects, and to date, I’ve studied composting, food and waste systems, alternative energy, soil contamination, and more, even applying my research to the real world. For example, I started a composting program at my high school, which diverts organic waste from landfills, instead recycling it into nutrient-rich soil that can be used in sustainable agricultural practices. I am incredibly passionate about food and waste systems, and plan to pursue a major in higher education as well as a career focusing on environmentally-responsible agricultural practices. Through independent study, I improved my critical thinking and public speaking skills, and discovered my obsession with environmental engineering. I’m now a student officer for my school’s MESA Program, where I not only pursue my own research interests but help guide my peers in their projects as well. Further, I promote sustainable practices in food and waste through my home, school, and local community. I plan to continue researching in college, and I want to major in environmental engineering because I still remember what first inspired me back in elementary school to find a career in environmental protection. I hope to attend a research institution, where I may continue my involvement with independent study and possibly discover something that makes a true difference in the world.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first, it was easy enough to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. I was prescribed a renal diet, focusing specifically on low-sodium, as well as including other aspects that force me to watch what I eat with extreme care. I no longer eat at restaurants, and in fact, eat almost exclusively non-processed foods. I have learned how to cook for myself, as well as how to make healthy choices. Falling victim to a rare kindey condition is something I had no control over, but the way in which it has forced me to adapt my lifestyle has afforded me invaluable lessons in how to not only live a healthier life, but to understand my limits and my strengths.

My name is Haley Solis, and I am a high school senior at Hercules High in California's Bay Area. I recently wrapped up my college application season, throughout which I've applied to environmental engineering programs across the nation in order to pursue my dreams of becoming an innovator in sustainable development and environmental protection. Anthropogenic climate change is, in my opinion, the greatest challenge facing society today, and it will take a collection of multifaceted thinkers to tackle it. I started an Environmental Club at my high school in my sophomore year, and have focused it around teaching about environmental health, implementing sustainable initiatives on my school campus, and fundraising for diverse environmental causes. I've also used my platform with the Environmental Club to creatively promote environmental awareness in my school community, specifically in the area of ocean protection. During the pandemic, I started crocheting as a hobby; I learned how to make stuffed animals, and crocheted small whales as a therapeutic habit. Later, when in-person school returned post-lockdown, I had an idea to stuff my whales with post-consumer plastic instead of poly-fill or cotton, reducing their carbon footprint and curbing plastic waste. In 2021, the Environmental Club made the whales into keychains and sold them as a fundraiser, also using the campaign as an opportunity to teach students at Hercules High School about the danger of plastic pollution to marine ecosystems. We donated 30% of our profits from the fundraiser to the TeamSeas organization, which removed 75 pounds of plastic from the ocean using our donation. Today, even several years after running the fundraiser and awareness campaign, many students still have handmade keychains hanging from their backpacks, bringing a lot of attention to our club as well as helping to recruit members. This fundraiser was one of my main passion projects throughout my high school career, and it gratified me to be able to teach my school community of nearly a thousand students about the dangers of climate change, plastic pollution, and human impact on our oceans. Today, I still recognize the detrimental impact of human activity on marine ecosystems, and I remain passionate about reversing and repairing aquatic species endangerment, ocean acidification, plastic pollution, and sea level rise. Further, I've learned over the years that the ocean's struggles are tied closely to the entire biosphere, and that human activity impacting the water impacts the rest of the planet. For example, carbon emissions into the atmosphere lead to excess carbon being absorbed by the ocean, thereby contributing to ocean acidification. The synthetic fertilizers that run off and cause toxic algal blooms in the oceans are the same fertilizers degrading soil health on massive monoculture farms. I am dedicated to earning my degree in environmental engineering so that I may tackle anthropogenic climate change head-on, and be a part of saving our oceans, as well as everything connected to them.

In the final class period of my first semester of senior year, one of the “class clowns” in AP Government asked our 59-year-old teacher: Mr. Franz, what age did you start to feel old? Over the past week or so, with the end of the semester approaching, our class discussions had become less academic and more every-day-life-conversational; I wasn’t surprised by this incredibly random question, and I’d expected Mr. Franz to give the usual, light-hearted commentary, perhaps about his 50-somethingth birthday. But instead, he surprised me with a much more insightful statement: When you stop feeling like you're immortal is when you know you are old. He went on to detail how, in his youth, things like major injury, lack of sleep, and stupid choices never prevented him from going on about his life. However, he now feels a sense of mortality in the types of challenges he faces increasingly with age. In particular, he spoke about his kidney disease, gesturing discreetly to me as he did so. Mr. Franz knows that I have a kidney condition (Nephrotic Syndrome) and throughout the semester, we’ve bonded over the similar struggles we face with dietary restrictions, limited physical abilities, and a constant reliance on prescription medicine that truly does make you feel mortal. As everyone else in my class let their minds drift to lighter topics as soon as Mr. Franz had finished his sentence, I remained stuck on the thought of mortality. Dealing with life-altering kidney disease for the past year has brought me face-to-face with the uncomfortable truth that I am not invincible, and I never have been. Except, while Mr. Franz experienced this in his late forties, after decades of detachedly-ignorant and blissful youth, I skipped that part. I’m experiencing this today, as a sixteen (and now seventeen) year-old, and I have--in some sense--grown up as a result of it. I feel, in a way, fortunate to have had this encounter with my own mortality at such a young age, which has in fact allowed me to knock down the illusion of immortality that many, if not all, of my peers maintain as part of their identities. This premature encounter with my own mortality might mean that I miss out on some of the patently-young memories--mistakes, really--that seemingly everyone makes while they still feel untouchable. But I'm okay with that. My youth--especially as it's been in the last year--has been uniquely mine, and it has shaped who I will grow to be in the future. I wouldn't trade it for a more naive and admittedly blissful youth, because this awareness has made me an ultimately stronger person.

My name is Haley Solis, and I am a high school senior at Hercules High in California's Bay Area. I recently wrapped up my college application season, throughout which I've applied to environmental engineering programs across the nation in order to pursue my dreams of becoming an innovator in sustainable development and environmental protection. Anthropogenic climate change is, in my opinion, the greatest challenge facing society today, and it will take a collection of multifaceted thinkers to tackle it. I started an Environmental Club at my high school in my sophomore year, and have focused it around teaching about environmental health, implementing sustainable initiatives on my school campus, and fundraising for diverse environmental causes. I've also used my platform with the Environmental Club to creatively promote environmental awareness in my school community, specifically in the area of ocean protection. During the pandemic, I started crocheting as a hobby; I learned how to make stuffed animals, and crocheted small whales as a therapeutic habit. Later, when in-person school returned post-lockdown, I had an idea to stuff my whales with post-consumer plastic instead of poly-fill or cotton, reducing their carbon footprint and curbing plastic waste. In 2021, the Environmental Club made the whales into keychains and sold them as a fundraiser, also using the campaign as an opportunity to teach students at Hercules High School about the danger of plastic pollution to marine ecosystems. We donated 30% of our profits from the fundraiser to the TeamSeas organization, which removed 75 pounds of plastic from the ocean using our donation. Today, even several years after running the fundraiser and awareness campaign, many students still have handmade keychains hanging from their backpacks, bringing a lot of attention to our club as well as helping to recruit members. This fundraiser was one of my main passion projects throughout my high school career, and it gratified me to be able to teach my school community of nearly a thousand students about the dangers of climate change, plastic pollution, and human impact on our oceans. Today, I still recognize the detrimental impact of human activity on marine ecosystems, and I remain passionate about reversing and repairing aquatic species endangerment, ocean acidification, plastic pollution, and sea level rise. Further, I've learned over the years that the ocean's struggles are tied closely to the entire biosphere, and that human activity impacting the water impacts the rest of the planet. For example, carbon emissions into the atmosphere lead to excess carbon being absorbed by the ocean, thereby contributing to ocean acidification. The synthetic fertilizers that run off and cause toxic algal blooms in the oceans are the same fertilizers degrading soil health on massive monoculture farms. I am dedicated to earning my degree in environmental engineering so that I may tackle anthropogenic climate change head-on, and be a part of saving our oceans, as well as everything connected to them.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. It was easy to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. Despite enduring the side effects of heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and even surgery because of this kidney condition, I earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community by investing my weekends in my schoolwork, also reorganizing my schedule to budget time for extracurriculars; I was determined not to let a disease tear me away from what mattered most in my life. In the year following my diagnosis, for example, I was the only pitcher on the varsity softball team at Hercules High. Though doubtful about my ability to play with Nephrotic Syndrome, I knew that--without a pitcher--my team couldn’t finish the season. My teammates deserved to play, motivating me to push through not only for myself but for them. We made it to league Championships for the first time in the team’s history, continuing on to compete in the NCS playoffs. There were many moments when I relied on the support of my teammates, whenever the swelling or fatigue made it difficult to pitch through a game. Looking back, I realize how much they helped me to persevere. I refused to let Nephrotic deter my outcomes, instead learning to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I’m in remission and manage my kidneys through medication and lab work. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone deals with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about how far I’ve come, and what I know I can achieve in the future.

I'm incredibly passionate about environmental protection, and throughout my life have become a leader in my school and local community, promoting conservation efforts on a variety of different issues. I founded (and currently serve as president of) the Hercules High Environmental Club, a student organization at my high school. It is focused on volunteering to improve and take care of the natural environment. My main motivation for starting my own club dedicated to environmental volunteering is my hope to tackle climate change in particular. Through the Environmental Club, I also built important relationships with my city's local government, ultimately becoming a youth commissioner serving in the Community and Library Services Commission in the City of Hercules. This unpaid role in my local municipality empowers me to further promote community service, especially in the area of environmental justice. In fact, it was this opportunity that led to one of the most impactful service initiatives for me. During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of paper and food waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, interpreting budget implications and setting timelines, as well as managing communications with school administrators, city council members, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting countless day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by union concerns since it required custodians to collect additional organics bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with a team of adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. Contributing over 100 hours to this project, I demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope that my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower those who want to make a difference, yet are traditionally marginalized in professional settings. Since its launch in April of 2022, this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impacted more than 900 students; It humbles me to have sparked something that became much bigger than myself and so positively changed my community. I'm pursuing my degree in environmental engineering so that I may work in partnership with the public sector, private industry, and nonprofit organizations toward sustainable development and environmental progress. My experience with this composting program showed me the multifaceted nature of sustainability and how economic and political factors can inhibit--or catalyze--these efforts. I've recently finished all of my college applications, and as I prepare to graduate high school I’m increasingly understanding that I will rely heavily on scholarships to finance my education. Having an economic barrier to learning is incredibly stressful; However, I aim to responsibly utilize scholarships such as the Sunshine Legall Scholarship to achieve my dreams.

I'm incredibly passionate about environmental protection, and throughout my life have become a leader in my school and local communities, promoting conservation efforts on a variety of different issues. I founded (and currently serve as president of) the Hercules High Environmental Club, a student organization at my high school. It focuses on volunteering to steward the natural environment. My main motivation for starting my own club dedicated to environmental volunteering is my hope to tackle climate change in particular. Through the Environmental Club, I also built important relationships with my city's local government, ultimately becoming a youth commissioner serving in the Community and Library Services Commission in the City of Hercules. This unpaid role in my local municipality empowers me to further promote community service, especially in the area of environmental justice. In fact, it was this opportunity that led to one of the most impactful service initiatives for me. During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of paper and food waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, interpreting budget implications and setting timelines, as well as managing communications with school administrators, city council members, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting countless day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by union concerns since it required custodians to collect additional organics bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with a team of adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope that my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower those who want to make a difference, yet are traditionally marginalized in professional settings. Since its launch in April of 2022, I have seen this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students; It humbles me to have sparked something that became much bigger than myself, making such a positive change in my community. I'm pursuing my degree in environmental engineering so that I may soon work in partnership with the public sector, private industry, and nonprofit organizations toward sustainable development and environmental progress in my community. I've recently finished all of my college applications, and as I prepare to graduate high school, I’m realizing that I will rely heavily on scholarships to finance my education so that I can focus on pursuing my goals. Having a financial barrier to learning is incredibly stressful, and I aim to utilize scholarships such as the Ray W Bausick Green Industry Memorial Scholarship to achieve my dreams.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first I blamed my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. Despite enduring the side effects of heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and even surgery because of this kidney condition, I earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community by investing my weekends in my schoolwork, also reorganizing my schedule to budget time for extracurriculars; I was determined not to let a disease tear me away from what mattered most in my life. In the year following my diagnosis, for example, I was the only pitcher on the varsity softball team at Hercules High. Though doubtful about my ability to play with Nephrotic Syndrome, I knew that--without a pitcher--my team couldn’t finish the season. All my teammates worked hard and deserved to play, motivating me to push through not only for myself but for them. We made it to TCAL (regular season) Championships for the first time in the team’s history, continuing on to compete in the NCS playoffs, and I personally earned an all-league nomination across our regional division that year. I relied on the support of my teammates when the swelling or fatigue made it difficult to pitch through a game. Looking back, I realize how much they helped me to persevere. I refused to let Nephrotic deter my outcomes, instead learning to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone is dealing with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about how far I’ve come, and what I know I can achieve in the future.

If I could have everyone in the world read just one book, it would be "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. This book, for me, was the reason I chose to pursue an education and career in environmental engineering and environmental justice. While I understand that this down-to-earth, practical, humorous 480-page commentary on America's modern food systems won't impact everyone as fundamentally as it has impacted me, I believe that the whole point of reading is to at least entertain the possibility that it could. I felt enlightened after reading and learning about how my meals really make it to my plate, and in particular, how industrial food processing impacts the planet. It allowed me to become educated on the things that big industry had otherwise successfully hidden from me for years, and this newfound knowledge felt powerful. Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was my first realization that knowledge is power, and that book gave me agency over my own choices in how I decide to eat, and which systems I decide to support. My impact in choosing three times a day--every time I sit down to eat--whether I support a local farmer or a food factory, an ecologically sustainable community or a concentrated livestock operation, made that impact feel much more significant. Since reading this book five years ago, I haven't eaten a single meal, bought any food, or read the word "organic" without considering what my best option is. I want everyone on Earth to take that second thought and possibly step back from their unconscious habits of consumption. I hope that in all of us reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" as a global community, everybody's small, consistent choices can add up to a larger-than-life, world-changing impact.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first I blamed my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t filter fluids, and my body retained almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. Later, when I tried to taper my medication, all of the water came flooding back. Nephrotic is so rare that my doctor didn’t understand how to treat it, and she kept changing my prescription to keep up with the disease. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most patient people in my life. Despite enduring the side effects of heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and even surgery because of this kidney condition, I earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community by investing my weekends in my schoolwork, also reorganizing my schedule to budget time for extracurriculars; I was determined not to let a disease tear me away from what mattered most in my life. In the year following my diagnosis, for example, I was the only pitcher on the varsity softball team at Hercules High. Though doubtful about my ability to play with Nephrotic Syndrome, I knew that--without a pitcher--my team couldn’t finish the season. Every one of my teammates worked hard and deserved to play, motivating me to push through not only for myself but for them. There were many moments when I relied on the support of my teammates--who were the only people at school that knew about my condition--whenever the swelling or fatigue made it difficult to pitch through a game. Looking back, I realize how much they helped me to persevere. With support from so many amazing people in my life, I refused to let Nephrotic deter my outcomes, instead learning to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I’m in remission and manage my kidneys through medication and lab work. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone is dealing with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about how far I’ve come, and what I know I can achieve in the future.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such positive change in my community. Implementing my high school’s organic waste program launched me into the real world, where progress is deliberate and calls for no end of compromise. With this broadened perspective, I’m ready to push the ceiling even higher as I continue in my educational journey.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such positive change in my community. Implementing my high school’s organic waste program launched me into the real world, where progress is deliberate and calls for no end of compromise. With this broadened perspective, I’m ready to push the ceiling even higher as I continue in my educational journey.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such positive change in my community. Implementing my high school’s organic waste program launched me into the real world, where progress is deliberate and calls for no end of compromise. With this broadened perspective, I’m ready to push the ceiling even higher as I continue in my educational journey.

My name is Haley Solis, and I am a high school senior at Hercules High in California's Bay Area. I recently wrapped up my college application season, throughout which I've applied to environmental engineering programs across the nation in order to pursue my dreams of becoming an innovator in sustainable development and environmental protection. Anthropogenic climate change is, in my opinion, the greatest challenge facing society today, and it will take a collection of multifaceted thinkers to tackle it. I started an Environmental Club at my high school in my sophomore year, and have focused it around teaching about environmental health, implementing sustainable initiatives on my school campus, and fundraising for diverse environmental causes. I've also used my platform with the Environmental Club to creatively promote environmental awareness in my school community, specifically in the area of ocean protection. During the pandemic, I started crocheting as a hobby; I learned how to make stuffed animals, and crocheted small whales as a therapeutic habit. Later, when in-person school returned post-lockdown, I had an idea to stuff my whales with post-consumer plastic instead of poly-fill or cotton, reducing their carbon footprint and curbing plastic waste. In 2021, the Environmental Club made the whales into keychains and sold them as a fundraiser, also using the campaign as an opportunity to teach students at Hercules High School about the danger of plastic pollution to marine ecosystems. We donated 30% of our profits from the fundraiser to the TeamSeas organization, which removed 75 pounds of plastic from the ocean using our donation. Today, even several years after running the fundraiser and awareness campaign, many students still have handmade keychains hanging from their backpacks, bringing a lot of attention to our club as well as helping to recruit members. This fundraiser was one of my main passion projects throughout my high school career, and it gratified me to be able to teach my school community of nearly a thousand students about the dangers of climate change, plastic pollution, and human impact on our oceans. Today, I still recognize the detrimental impact of human activity on marine ecosystems, and I remain passionate about reversing and repairing aquatic species endangerment, ocean acidification, plastic pollution, and sea level rise. Further, I've learned over the years that the ocean's struggles are tied closely to the entire biosphere, and that human activity impacting the water impacts the rest of the planet. For example, carbon emissions into the atmosphere lead to excess carbon being absorbed by the ocean, thereby contributing to ocean acidification. The synthetic fertilizers that run off and cause toxic algal blooms in the oceans are the same fertilizers degrading soil health on massive monoculture farms. I am dedicated to earning my degree in environmental engineering so that I may tackle anthropogenic climate change head-on, and be a part of saving our oceans, as well as everything connected to them.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. As the president of my high school’s Environmental Club, I created outlets to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such positive change in my community. Combatting climate change is the motivation behind all my academic interests in engineering. I’m pursuing higher education so I can make meaningful decisions on environmental protection and advocate for marginalized communities in this space.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first it was easy enough to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. Despite enduring the side effects of heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and even surgery because of this kidney condition, I earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community by investing my weekends in my schoolwork, also reorganizing my schedule to budget time for extracurriculars; I was determined not to let a disease tear me away from what mattered most in my life. In the year following my diagnosis, for example, I was the only pitcher on the varsity softball team at Hercules High. Though doubtful about my ability to play with Nephrotic Syndrome, I knew that--without a pitcher--my team couldn’t finish the season. Every one of my teammates worked hard and deserved to play, motivating me to push through not only for myself but for them. We made it to TCAL (regular season) Championships for the first time in the team’s history, continuing on to compete in the NCS playoffs. There were many moments when I relied on the support of my teammates--who were the only people at school that knew about my condition--whenever the swelling or fatigue made it difficult to pitch through a game. Looking back, I realize how much they helped me to persevere. With support from so many amazing people in my life, I refused to let Nephrotic deter my outcomes, instead learning to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I’m in remission and manage my kidneys through medication and lab work. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone is dealing with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about how far I’ve come, and what I know I can achieve in the future.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. I am the president of my high school’s Environmental Club as well as a youth commissioner advising my city's local government, and these outlets gave me the opportunity to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such a positive change in my community. I believe that, in order to safeguard the health of our only planet, its animals, and its people, society needs to listen to the voices that advocate for the right thing. It is imperative that everyone has a fair say in what our society does to impact the world around it, and that marginalized communities aren't left to bear the worst costs of climate change, pollution, deforestation, and global warming at the hands of the powerful few who create the mess. I fought for my seat at the table in order to make a positive impact that has reached and will continue to extend beyond my individual actions, and I believe that it should never be that difficult to do the right thing. When there is someone willing to put in the work to protect what really matters, it is nothing short of reckless to stand in their way.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. I am the president of my high school’s Environmental Club as well as a youth commissioner advising my city's local government, and these outlets gave me the opportunity to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such a positive change in my community. I believe that, in order to safeguard the health of our only planet, its animals, and its people, society needs to listen to the voices that advocate for the right thing. It is imperative that everyone has a fair say in what our society does to impact the world around it, and that marginalized communities aren't left to bear the worst costs of climate change, pollution, deforestation, and global warming at the hands of the powerful few who create the mess. I fought for my seat at the table in order to make a positive impact that has reached and will continue to extend beyond my individual actions, and I believe that it should never be that difficult to do the right thing. When there is someone willing to put in the work to protect what really matters, it is nothing short of reckless to stand in their way.

In the middle of my junior year of high school, I gained twenty pounds in three weeks. The weight stretched out my skin, and I wore my brother’s jeans because my pants wouldn’t fit. Just walking between classes at school was exhausting, and the passive-aggressive comments people made about my weight mortified me. I felt out of control, and insecure in my own body. During that time, I was dealing with the pressures of four AP exams, two varsity sports, and several extracurriculars, as well as leadership positions within my school and local communities. At first, it was easy enough to blame my unusually-extreme fatigue and weight gain on this stress, but eventually it was clear that something was wrong and—one doctor visit later—I was diagnosed with a 1-in-50,000-kind-of-rare kidney disease: Nephrotic Syndrome. My kidneys couldn’t properly filter fluids, causing my body to retain almost four gallons of water. I was prescribed heavy doses of immuno-suppressant steroids along with a restrictive low-sodium diet, but the next few months were still a rollercoaster of remission and relapse. I lost fifteen pounds of water weight within a week, leaving painful muscle aches and stretch marks all over my body. The heavy-dose, long-term steroids took a toll on me; I struggled in school because I was missing class time to use the bathroom every half-hour, fighting exhaustion from poor sleep, and dealing with rapid changes in my body weight. The steroids also caused intense, unpredictable mood swings, making me sob uncontrollably for no reason, causing my mind to race with stress, and shortening my temper even with the most loving and patient people in my life. Despite enduring the side effects of heavy steroid treatment, extreme dietary restrictions, and even surgery because of this kidney condition, I earned straight A’s and remained a leader in my community by investing my weekends in my schoolwork, also reorganizing my schedule to budget time for extracurriculars; I was determined not to let a disease tear me away from what mattered most in my life. In the year following my diagnosis, for example, I was the only pitcher on the varsity softball team at Hercules High. Though doubtful about my ability to play with Nephrotic Syndrome, I knew that--without a pitcher--my team couldn’t finish the season. Every one of my teammates worked hard and deserved to play, motivating me to push through not only for myself but for them. We made it to TCAL (regular season) Championships for the first time in the team’s history, continuing on to compete in the NCS playoffs. There were many moments when I relied on the support of my teammates--who were the only people other than family that knew about my condition--whenever the swelling or fatigue made it difficult to pitch through a game. Looking back, I realize how much they helped me to persevere. With support from so many amazing people in my life, I refused to let Nephrotic deter my outcomes, instead learning to recognize when to push my limits, when I need support, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I’m in remission and manage my kidneys through medication and lab work. Nephrotic Syndrome has dictated the past year of my life, preventing me from being a normal teenager. However, it also improved my social awareness, allowing me to understand that everyone is dealing with internal, invisible struggles that I couldn’t possibly understand, having never walked in their shoes. I’m hopeful about how far I’ve come, and what I know I can achieve in the future.

During the 2021-22 school year, I implemented a composting program in my school community. I’d always noticed a lack of sustainable practices in my underfunded school district, where staffing, food security, and campus safety were constant challenges. Less immediate issues--like eco-friendly waste management--fell through the cracks, but I couldn’t ignore the massive amounts of compostable waste accumulating in landfills and polluting my community, so even though I was “just a high schooler,” I sought out a solution. I am the president of my high school’s Environmental Club as well as a youth commissioner advising my city's local government, and these outlets gave me the opportunity to enact positive change in this space. I first proposed that Hercules High implement compost early in my junior year. Over the following six months, I worked relentlessly on this initiative, setting budgets and timelines as well as managing communications with school administrators, government officials, municipal waste services, and even students. My responsibilities also included training student volunteers to monitor the program, conducting waste audits, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. For instance, the program was threatened by concerns from union employees. The new system would require custodians to collect additional waste bins, beyond the requirements of their contracts, and met firm resistance. I personally negotiated this issue, ultimately organizing additional student volunteers to assist in sorting garbage, thereby lightening the load of our indispensable custodial personnel. This brief conflict nearly cost the entire compost program, and it showed me how nuanced yet important workers’ rights, economics, and politics are in seemingly-detached environmental efforts. Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges I faced with this project was being the only high school-aged individual working with adult professionals. I had to work twice as hard for the same respect everyone else was given automatically, which opened my eyes to the different forms discrimination can take and pushed me to prove myself. I contributed over 100 hours to this project and demonstrated my capability in professional environments. I hope my efforts not only promote environmental justice but also empower traditionally marginalized individuals to make a difference. Since its launch in April of 2022, I’ve watched this compost program divert over 3,000 pounds of waste from landfills and impact more than 900 students. I’m currently furthering this impact by expanding similar composting programs to other local public schools. I’m passionate about making change that goes beyond just one person, and it humbles me to have sparked something that made such a positive change in my community. I believe that, in order to safeguard the health of our only planet, its animals, and its people, society needs to listen to the voices that advocate for the right thing. It is imperative that everyone has a fair say in what our society does to impact the world around it, and that marginalized communities aren't left to bear the worst costs of climate change, pollution, deforestation, and global warming at the hands of the powerful few who create the mess. I fought for my seat at the table in order to make a positive impact that has reached and will continue to extend beyond my individual actions, and I believe that it should never be that difficult to do the right thing. When there is someone willing to put in the work to protect what really matters, it is nothing short of reckless to stand in their way.