My Advocacy Journey: From Writer to Change‑Maker

The writer is a Sophomore at Indiana University.

On April 21, 2025, I got the call: my hometown, Elkhart, Indiana, had officially become the eleventh city in Indiana to adopt a youth-led Climate Recovery Resolution. 

Exiting my Sustainable Law final, I felt like I was walking on air. Twenty minutes prior, I had been presenting on the Flint Water Crisis, detailing the frustrations of climate activist Keishaun Wade and Flint’s Senior Environmental Government Analyst, Ella McFarland, with the state government’s lack of urgency in response to the poisoning of Flint’s water system. Just another instance of political failure contributing to environmental injustice. 

But now, I had living proof of my city’s commitment to a sustainable future: in the coming months, the city will appoint a Sustainability Officer and create a Climate Action Plan. But this commitment wasn’t just a huge victory for the city; it was deeply personal to me.

For over four years, a team of students, teachers, local environmental experts, and I carefully crafted, revised, and spearheaded this resolution from its humble beginnings in 2021 to final approval in spring 2025. Together, we nurtured it and believed in it. 

The seed we’d planted had begun to bloom. 

The author, standing between fellow youth advocate Wichita Keen and the mayor of Elkhart, Rod Roberson. Provided photo.

Finding my voice through YEPT

As a high school student, I often felt overwhelmed; I was expected to act adult, yet still treated like a child who didn’t know much. I knew about climate change, but not how to mobilize or take action against it. The science of it all felt overwhelming and distant. With little to no resources, I returned to what I knew best: I wrote. As a staff member of Elkhart High School’s The Pennant, I tried to clarify the crisis, correct common misinformation, and inspire activism in my community.

That’s when Youth Environmental Press Team (YEPT) reached out. Launched in 2020 by Earth Charter Indiana, YEPT’s primary goal is to support students across Indiana in climate journalism and youth-led storytelling. [Editor’s note: YEPT now has youth from over a half-dozen states involved.]

In 2021, I joined as a writer and was welcomed into a thriving community of young activists, editors, and artists. For one of the very first times in my life, I felt that I was in a place where they truly believed in the strength of youth voices. 

While I came into YEPT extremely lost, unsure of how to find my place in the growing climate movement, I emerged with a purpose. 

Developing confidence and community

As a part of YEPT, I met biweekly with teen writers from around Indiana. We pitched ideas, edited drafts, and shared research. Coverage of statewide events like the Confront the Climate Crisis rally at the Indiana Statehouse opened my eyes to the power of youth activists like Rahul Durai and Ashlyn Walker. Watching them speak and demand action felt transformative. My voice, once hesitant, now felt powerful, defiant. I started to believe in its ability to move people.  

YEPT provided me with the tools and resources that I had always wished for as a youth advocate and the confidence to demand change in my local government. My fellow writers became the pillars of my success, offering feedback and encouragement every step of the way. Jim Poyser, Director of Advancement at Earth Charter Indiana and adult supervisor of YEPT, was my anchor, keeping me grounded when I felt the pressure of climate cynicism. 

By 2023, I became YEPT’s Director. I helped lead the organization’s first statewide print edition. The publication reached counties all over the state, from Elkhart, Goshen, Carmel, and beyond, spreading our environmental reporting like seeds, hoping for germination. The issue became a tool for community conversation, education, and change. 

Together, we saw our roots take hold. 

From storytelling to civic action

Inspired by my peers and mentors, I began building the groundwork for Elkhart’s Climate Recovery Resolution in early 2022. Another YEPT member, Gabi from Columbus, Indiana, had been working on another youth-led resolution a year prior and had encouraged me to do the same. She and Poyser provided me with key contacts, readings, and advice. With their help, my team and I crafted the first draft of the resolution. 

Over the next two years, the resolution effort came in full force: I organized weekly meetings with peers and advisors like eco‑consultant Paul Steury and city leaders across Elkhart. I received crucial input from the Sustainability Office in South Bend and attended the Mayor’s Environmental Advisory Council meetings in Goshen to refine the document’s goals: a climate action plan, a youth environmental council, and a sustainability commission.

The resulting resolution passed unanimously in April 2025. It was living proof that youth-led, persistent civic engagement can make tangible policy happen– that visions of a better future can sprout into liveable growth. 

How YEPT shaped me

YEPT empowered me to speak confidently in front of city council members and state legislators, mobilize my peers around the issues we care most about, and persist through policy delays, redrafting, and revision. 

That growth became the core of who I am today. I’m now an Indiana University Herman B Wells Scholar majoring in Environmental Sustainability & International Law. In the future, I hope to become a key voice in the fight for International climate policy reform– a career I never would have dreamed of having without the opportunities I secured through YEPT.  

YEPT also introduced me to scientific research in a way that felt accessible and liberating as a high schooler. I felt so much joy and connection whenever I had the opportunity to sit down and interview scientists for my articles. So, I applied to the Sustainability Scholars program at IU, where undergraduate students work with esteemed professors in their field to conduct interdisciplinary climate research. Last fall, I was accepted and was able to work with esteemed ornithologist Dr. Ellen Ketterson on a project studying the impact of global warming on the sex ratio of dark-eyed juncos in wintering locations. 

The author displaying her research. Provided photo.

The lobbying and leadership skills I gained also led me to co‑lead Advocates for Science at IU, elevating student research and defending science-based policy. After IU’s research community was hit hard with funding cuts imposed by the Trump Administration, my peers and I knew something needed to be done. We teamed up with professors, community members, scientists, and students to raise awareness about the importance of evidence-based research and the dangers of censoring climate science.

The author, front row, fourth from the left, pictured with fellow IU students. Provided photo.

Full circle: Writing to real-world impact

What began as a classroom article led to statewide reporting, policy creation, and university leadership. Recognition, like being named a Hoosier Resilience Hero in 2024 by the Environmental Resilience Institute, reaffirmed that personal passion, paired with purpose and writing, can create a chain reaction of public good. 

My journey underlines two critical truths: youth perspectives and investments are essential. By creating a solid foundation for the youth of today and providing them with the tools to succeed, we help them grow, not just professionally, but personally. 

YEPT didn’t just help me grow into the person I am today — it helped me believe that growth was possible. That the seeds we plant today can grow to reshape the future.