Nicolina Pappas
At age 14, successfully authored and testified for Illinois state resolutions adopted by both chambers, declaring April 1 as “Skip the Plastic Day” — documented in the 2025 Gloria Barron Prize winner profile (Sep 2025) and local coverage (WQAD, Aug 14, 2025).
What they built
Founded Nicolina's Turtle Co. at age 8 in 2019, after watching a viral video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose. What began as sewing and selling colorful metal straw pouches to encourage reusable straw use has grown into a comprehensive conservation movement that has raised over $30,000 for river cleanups, zoo camp scholarships, classroom outreach, and wildlife education programs. She expanded far beyond product sales into active policy advocacy — partnering with a coalition of 100+ mayors along the Mississippi River, presenting her Skip the Plastic campaign to 14 cities across Illinois and Iowa, securing 14 official city proclamations representing 250,000 residents, and successfully testifying before both the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives to have her authored resolution adopted, declaring April 1 as 'Skip the Plastic Day.' She has shared her conservation message with more than 3,500 youth and adults at schools, conferences, city councils, and service organizations.
View ProjectThe F18 Thesis
Verified track record
- Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes 2025 Winner profile (age 14) (source)
- WVIK Radio/NPR Quad Cities — "Rock Island teenager receives honors for conservation efforts" (Sept 30, 2025) (source)
- WHBF TV — video feature (Sept 19, 2025) (source)
- Our Quad Cities — "Rock Island Teen on CBS's The Visioneers" (Sept 24, 2025) (source)
- PBS Station KCFG — feature segment (Oct 13, 2025) (source)
- Action for Nature 2025 Eco-Hero Award 2nd Place (source)
- WRAM Radio recognition (source)
- WQAD — Illinois Skip the Plastic Day legislative coverage (Apr 1, 2025) (source)
- Personal/nonprofit website (email publicly listed) (source)