2022 High School Winners

Sophia Heilen is a senior at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Virginia. She learned about the contest in her Sustainability and Renewable Technologies class. Recently, Sophia traveled to Sanibel Island in Florida and visited the “Ding” Darling National Preserve, which is the largest undeveloped mangrove forest in the United States. She was familiar with population and its impacts after taking AP Environmental Science,  but had no idea how much of a toll shrimp farming had on mangrove forests. She also learned a lot about the legislative impacts of shrimp farming and why it is important not to boycott shrimp farming as a whole, because the farms are often run by families or small businesses. She said, “in order to be sustainable, you can’t just focus on the environmental interests but you also have to look at the economic and social justice concerns of the groups of the people it impacts.” 

She had never created a video like this before and found condensing all the information into a one-minute video was the most challenging part. On the other hand, she also “liked that the contest was only a minute because in the modern world, something that is short and easily digestible is more likely to be shared.” 

She advises future contest participants to pick a topic that they can see “in the real world,” whether it is from talking to someone who has experience or, if possible, going to a location instead of only reading about it in a textbook. She would like to see the effects of migration caused by climate change as a topic for the contest next year. “We hear about climate change causing sea-level rise and loss of biodiversity, but we don’t often talk about the social justice challenges of people having to migrate from their homes on the coast like possible conflict, disease, and lack of resources.”

Sophia plans on using her prize money for college. She is planning on studying computer science and environmental science at the College of William and Mary next year. She would like to double major in conservation technology because she is interested in using technology for environmental science research and helping communities with conservation efforts. In her spare time, she swims, which she plans to continue at college. She also likes to spend a lot of time outdoors, camping and hiking with friends and family. 

Sophia shared that she “has a lot of odd pets – two rabbits, a snake, and some worms (for composting), kind of like the whole food chain.” She also has a dog and some fish. Her parents have helped her find a love of learning and focus on things that interest her. Her mom, specifically, is focused on equality and justice which “pushed her in a way to be involved in environmental science because it impacts so many people.”