Bleakley Shettle is a freshman at Maclay School in Tallahassee, Florida. Her passion for protecting the environment began during the pandemic, when her family started going camping. Being surrounded by nature taught her how important it is to protect natural resources and the organisms that we share the planet with. Bleakley is a NOAA and US Water Challenge youth ambassador and a CAVU Youth Advocate, and has also taken action in her own community through making short films about an agrivoltaics farm in her city, the dying oyster reefs in a local lake, and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Bleakley also started her own community project to spread climate awareness through painting. She is excited to share her ideas with a group of like-minded peers in the Marine Plastics Program, and continue to spread environmental awareness through art.