I also learned what it is like to become a leader. Being able to allow my community to learn more about our environment really opened my eyes on the fact that there is so much more that I can do.

Using this knowledge enables me to better develop targeted and effective strategies to address specific problems and promote sustainable practices in my area.

I have organized cleanups in the past and have seen the gut-wrenching build–up of trash before, but this time was different because I felt that I had a larger purpose being part of the KPB YA program. While this stressed me out a bit and also filled me with fear of failure, I felt agency and pride with my work.

Doing this program help me grow as a person and enable me the tools and understanding I needed to continue into my adulthood. Also, the events and projects we had to do assisted me in my personal service hours for my high school for graduation. After my educational event, many kids from my community have come up to me and said they remember me. I take that as a sign the I did my job well.

My favorite session was the meeting with Keep Texas Beautiful, because I felt very proud to represent Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, but I also felt that I was a part of a community of students with diverse beliefs and backgrounds that all have a great desire to improve and beautify their community and environment.

I was able to get a lot of good advice from the Keep America Beautiful conference, both about real life (college/school advice) and with continuing a career in environmental conservation. I was able to see successful people in career positions I didn’t know existed that I could include on my own list of "what should I be when I grow up." I’m also invited to speak at the nature themed school orchestra concert in late May, which I never would have been offered without building connections within my school to promote my education/clean up events.

This training helped me because it really showed what to do with age demographics. With my educational lessons I planned on going to the audience of 2nd-3rd graders but realized I needed to go higher in age and settled with the 5th grade students.