I've always had an interest in Environmental Conservation. When I was a kid, I would walk around and pick up trash or throw starfish back into the ocean when I visited the beach. Sophomore year of high school, I founded an Environmental Club because I noticed that in school, we were taught about the dangers to the earth and nature, but we were never taught how to solve them. My goal was to educate young adults about the pressing environmental concerns that threaten our planet and inspire them to take action and make a measurable difference in their community. In 3 years, the club reached 150+ members. Through my outreach projects, we recycled over 1,529 pounds of plastic, gave 2,730 trees and seedlings to citizens, collected over 600 pounds of litter from water and roadways, adopted 2 miles of road from the city, and established 5 community partnerships. I'm now taking everything I learned and shared with the club to the Virginia Tech Environmental Coalition so I can continue to make a difference. I'm also majoring in Wildlife Conservation, so I can learn about conservation biology/ research and then incorporate this into environmental education and outreach in my future career.