Organizer & Moderator

Shriya Nanugonda

Hey! My name is Shriya Nanugonda and I am a Junior at Raleigh Charter High School. I am an avid binge watcher and play sports such as soccer and track. I first started working with Toward Zero Waste as part of my gold award for Girl Scouts. I created a page where kids can learn about zero waste and the environmental problems we all face. After all my research and meetings, I realized communication is an important part of environmental advocacy and decided to help create these seminars.

Panelists

Nick Trombetta

I am an activist and graduate of UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in environmental studies. My passion for politics and social justice was awoken by my experience with the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2020. For the first time I felt like I was a part of something special that was going to change the world for the better. While Bernie did not win, I did not let go of that feeling. I have since become active with the Sunrise Movement, Cary Green Citizens Coalition, and the Progressive International. I have educated myself by reading many books from radical and left leaning authors such as Noam Chomsky, Walter Rodney, Naomi Klein, Michael Parenti, Howard Zinn, and Angela Davis.

Sydney Tai

Hi! I’m Sydney Tai and I’m a rising senior at Cary Academy. I’m passionate about driving individual environmental action by making sustainability less daunting and more fun, a goal I worked towards when co-leading my school’s environmental club for the past two years. Next year, I am excited to serve as Cary Academy’s inaugural Chief Environmental & Sustainability Officer, a role which will unify all environmental initiatives on campus. In addition to hugging trees, I also enjoy playing tennis competitively, doing Speech and Debate, and coaching at Cary Tennis Park.

Rocco Nociti

Hey, my name is Rocco Nociti and I’m a rising Junior at Purdue University studying Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Architectural Engineering and a minor in Sustainable Engineering. I’ve always been fascinated by nature and the idea of a self-sustaining lifestyle and have done my best to advocate for renewable energy education and implement environmentally-safe practices. In high school I was the heavily involved in Student Council as the Student Body President and the STEM Energy & Sustainability Academy as an ambassador where I founded the Athens Drive Solar Panel Initiative as well as other smaller projects throughout my high school years. Outside of school and extracurriculars, you’ll almost always either find me in the gym, the kitchen, or hanging out with friends.