Imagine hiking across a scenic trail, admiring the beauty of nature and the wildlife it offers. The calming sound of birds chirping fills the air as gentle rays of sunshine peek through the leafy canopy above. You turn around and immediately notice something bright orange stuck between twigs and dirt. Enjoying the environment should be about connecting with Earth, not a neon-colored plastic wrapper. Over 118 million people hike each year in the United States, so it’s no surprise that hundreds of thousands of pieces of trash end up scattered across natural landscapes, finding their way into the homes and stomachs of birds and other animals. I saw this unfortunate reality while at the lakefront: bottle caps were wedged into seagull nests, and bits of plastic were found in the stomachs of sandpipers. These sights made it clear that taking action was urgent. To remedy this issue, I founded Eccodrone. Eccodrone was created as a way for students to gather together for trash detection on beaches. By using autonomous drone technology and machine learning, our team was able to train computer vision models to detect trash with up to 97% accuracy. Trained with over 3,000 labeled pieces of data on different types of trash, the drones use a sensor system to navigate and record detailed footage of the terrain. So far, our drones have scanned over 340 football fields of terrain, accurately identifying waste and mapping out trash hotspots. What originally started out as a group turned into an award-winning nonprofit that has fundraised over $6,000 and grown to a team of 40+ members. Being recognized for our creative approach to environmental cleanup and youth-led impact, we have used our technology, collecting data not only to clean public parks and beaches, but to help other organizations plan more efficient cleanups and develop long-lasting solutions. I believe that our story is one that can highlight the impact of student activism, inspiring youth to take initiative, and we are eager to share it with a larger audience. Not only has this organization helped me create a way for us students to protect the environment, but it has also allowed me to connect with many wonderful people in the environmental conservation field. After conducting many field studies and research cases on the environment and the implications of trash in the oceans and forests, my desire to clean up trash increased. A large increasing trend in unclean parks is related to the recent budget cuts made by Congress. Many of our national parks and environmental conservation organizations rely on financial aid from federal funding. With parks being forced to make changes to their cleanup policies, I wanted to find a way for parks to monitor their green spaces without using too many resources. Through my research, conducted with various amazing park rangers, cleanup guides, and environmental teachers, I have gotten to learn about how we are working to keep the environment clean, reversing our footprint on the world. I have learned alongside professors and field experts on the effects of trash in ecosystems around the world. So as I plan my next research, I sit under a shady tree at Lincoln Park. Squirrels run across the grass, and birds peck at the dirt near my feet. This is one of the thousands of natural wild spaces around the country that I work to protect. Whether it's by taking classes on environmental conservation and ecology at my local college or joining park cleanups on the weekends, I spend my time cleaning the world, one bottlecap at a time.

As a customer walked into the coffee shop, the cashier lumbered back to the register. I watched the man ponder the menu for a second before clearing his throat, startling the barista at the espresso machine. "I'll have an iced coffee," he said. The Tuesday afternoon sun brought warm light into the coffee shop. I had taken to listening in on the conversations around me, which were sparse, to say the very least. My hot chocolate had grown cold, and my phone had run out of battery, typical since I always forgot my charger. "A hot iced coffee," he said. I didn't immediately realize the irony of the statement, but I turned around to look at the man ordering. "I'm sorry, sir, it seems like I misheard. Would you like an Americano?" the cashier said. "No, I want a hot iced coffee, are you deaf?" he snarked. I stared at the man with a classic Gen-Z stare. The barista did the same. He turned around and looked at the rest of the shop, locking eyes with me. We stared at each other, neither of us breaking eye contact. "What?" "You just asked for a HOT iced coffee. What do you want her to do, warm up your ice cubes for you?" I deadpanned. His face grew red as he turned around, marching out of the shop. The barista laughed. "hOt iCeD cOffEe, how am I supposed to make that? Warm up those ice cubes?" she said. She winked at me as she cleaned out the coffee machine. I settled back into my chair. While I dreaded making a doctor's appointment, like the rest of my generation, I would not hesitate to help those who were getting pushed around, even if it meant going up against someone 3 times my size.