Alexandria Student Wins Environmental Scholarship

Christina Pelliccio wants to make the world a cleaner place, and the high school senior was just awarded the Earth Day Scholarship by the National Society of High School Scholars.

Pelliccio, who lives in the city of Alexandria and attends West Potomac High School, plans on studying environmental science this fall at the University of California at Berkeley.

“This work is really rewarding and that alone continues to motivate me,” Pelliccio told ALXnow.

The $500 scholarship is given to students who are deeply passionate about the environment. Pelliccio, who routinely organizes and hosts cleanup events along the Potomac River, and at her school worked to install water bottle filling stations and recycling bins. Additionally, she is the local chapter leader of Think Ocean, a nonprofit youth-led network of student environmentalists around the world, and sits on the Mount Vernon Environmental Advisory Committee in Fairfax County.

Pelliccio said that succeeding on environmental issues is about making a string of little victories.

“It’s definitely a big challenge, the environmental issue,” she said. “It’s definitely not going away any time soon, but I just think that we have to be optimistic and keep pushing and just take in the little victories, even if they are small they can help motivate you and they are really rewarding.”

Courtesy photo