Maria Sanchez is a proud junior at Northside College Prep in Chicago! She always had a passion for nature, so when she became aware of the impact that even someone as small as she could have on the environment, she decided she needed to take action. She is the vice president of the Recycling Club, which collects all recyclable material from classrooms and deposits it in the recycling dumpsters at school.

Asides from being a climate change superhero, she is also part of the varsity debate team at school, where she gets to compete at both the national and local circuit. Debate is what incentivized her to become active on the issues she cares about, and has increased her awareness about the science and politics of climate change. When she’s not at tournaments, she enjoys drinking tea, reading news blogs, and being a foodie.