The sound of my yawning filled the classroom as the Health teacher explained what pollution was for what felt like the hundredth time. In my school in the Philippines, similar topics would be watered down to give us a grade. We were taught to memorize, take the test, and move on to “more important” subjects like Mathematics. Health classes were required all throughout school, but were rarely taken seriously. “POLLUTION” would be written in big, bold lettering on the front of a flashcard, and once the quiz was over, in the trash bin without a second thought. Looking back, I realize there was never any room to question that word and what it meant. Pollution, in my 11-year-old brain, was just trash on the concrete or smoke in the air. With so little depth in how it was taught, I grew up believing it wasn’t my problem, it was someone else’s. I’d see Greta Thunberg on the news and sit comfortably in my complacency, thinking, “She’s got it all under control!” Last year, I moved to New York, and this experience introduced me not just to a place with overwhelming diversity, but to a different kind of learning. For the first time, school felt less like a race for grades and more like an invitation to ask questions. That year, I found myself in AP Biology, AP Psychology, and the Green Team — an environmental club filled with students who cared about educating students on the environment. Together, these three experiences planted a question that hadn’t once crossed my mind back home: Why isn’t anyone talking about how pollution affects the brain? It was in AP Biology that the lightbulb moment happened. I learned how pollutants like heavy metals and PM2.5 don’t just sit there in the Earth’s atmosphere — they can cross the blood-brain barrier and interfere with how the brain functions. I vividly remember pausing, wide-eyed and mouth slightly opened as if to say “Oh gosh,” as I took in the implications. We always hear about microplastic-contaminated seafood, but where were the stories about us? About children growing up in smog-filled cities, unknowingly breathing in substances that dull memory, slow attention, and quietly chip away at their cognitive abilities? For the first time, this issue with pollution felt like a personal fight. Then came AP Psychology, and suddenly, everything clicked. I started learning how mental health is shaped not only by what’s going on inside, but also by what surrounds us. Chronic noise, poor air quality, and lack of green space take a toll, not just on our environment, but on us emotionally and mentally. We learn about the word “environment” as something distant or external to us. In reality, it’s what we breathe, absorb, and live in every day. It gets under our skin and becomes a part of who we are. Inspired by Debby Lee Cohen’s work, the Green Team decided that it was time to take action and bring beauty and purpose to our school. Our idea? A pollinator garden — a small sanctuary that could support dwindling pollinator populations and add more greenery to our campus. I had the honor of presenting this plan to our school principals with my heart thumping and my voice shaking the whole time. In the end, I was met with big smiles and full support. With the help of iDig2Learn, a local organization that reconnects people with nature through planting, we got to work. Now, every time I walk past the front of our school, I see color and life fluttering its wings where there once was just plain grass. It all reminds me that even small efforts can plant big change. Before this year, my parents were shaping me towards Nursing until I decided I wanted to pursue Neuroscience. Not just to study the brain, but to help people understand how deeply the environment shapes who we are. I hope to explore how environmental toxins quietly affect our cognitive function, especially in underserved communities, where zoning, industrial proximity, and limited green space concentrate pollution. When people hear the word “pollution”, I don’t want them to only picture trash; I want them to think about learning ability, brain fog, and the future generation. I hope to become someone who brings science out of the lab and into classrooms and neighborhoods. The environment connects us all, and I hope to spend my life being a connector, bridging science and change with care, curiosity, and a little bit of heart.