MARITZA ROBERTS
High School: BASIS Tucson North School
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Maritza Roberts's green sustainability journey began, quite literally, at ground level, as she was captivated by an encounter with a struggling Carey turtle entangled in plastic rings. This moment, captured in an art piece she submitted to the local "El Niño y La Mar" contest and won, marked the beginning of Maritza’s interest in protecting the Earth and all its creatures.
Since that defining experience, Maritza has dedicated herself to environmental activism in her community and beyond. Growing up in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, she grappled with the anthropogenic effects of climate change head-on. Inspired by this, during her tenth-grade summer, she aided beached whales back to the ocean and led her town's first estuary eco-tourism education campaign, reaching two thousand locals about the importance of salt marshes in supporting coastal resilience.
The accomplishments of this dynamic young woman are as varied as they are impactful. Environmental science lessons inspired her to lead a community-wide initiative, organizing a beach shore cleanup with ninety neighbors and friends on World Oceans Day. As an education workgroup co-chair, and a leader within the Steering Committee of the United States Youth Advisory Council for the United Nations Ocean Decade (4th Cohort), she co-led a 15-member workgroup, serves a 50-member coalition, and co-authored a children's illustrated book which teaches the tales of natural history and educates children on the impacts of climate change. Alongside 10 youth leaders, she presented on how to increase the inclusion of youth voices in the UN Ocean Decade campaign to members from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and NASA. From March 18th to 22nd, she will lobby on Capitol Hill to urge Senators and Representatives to end oil and gas tax subsidies (H.R.1483), pass the Increase Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023 (H.R.2950), pass the Offshore Pipeline Safety Act (H.R.1441), S.643, S.1806, and H.R.3878.
Maritza’s scientific acumen shone through in her Molecular Biology 103 class, where she delved into gel electrophoresis, Colony PCR, and biostatistics using R-code and XLSTAT. Her research, part of the Keep Engaging Youth in Science (KEYS) program, explored carbon-nitrogen fixing bacteria, aiming to refine climate change prediction models by studying the soil microbial community during monsoon season. Through her partnership with Dr. Kushwaha at the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining, she researches plant-based remediation, studying the ability of native flora to accumulate toxic heavy metals; she strives to enhance the understanding of saltbush seeds’ metal tolerance to clean up the topsoil of abandoned mine tailing sites across Arizona. Her project is one of eight selected from over 250 high school projects at the SARSEF regional fair to be presented at the Los Angeles Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2024. Recently, she was a panelist at the Tucson Festival of Books, alongside six other youths, where she spoke about her personal science journey, and the importance of curiosity in STEM.
Recognitions for her contributions abound and include achievements such as taking first-place victory at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, as a Chemistry Poster Presenter, and winning Special Prize Awardee at the Dallas Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2023 in Chemistry, where only the top 1,600 from 6,000,000 global project submissions compete annually. Her innovative spirit in STEM fields caught the discerning eye of U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, earning her a recognition letter, while her academic pursuits in rigorous courses with 15 AP acknowledgments demonstrate a relentless quest for knowledge that refuses to be satisfied.
Her proudest moment in sustainability so far has been teaching children the marvels of evolution and biodiversity through hands-on learning. As she shared her knowledge with eager young minds, Maritza found joy in their awe and curiosity. Her efforts as a Girls for Change Leader brought the history and ecology of the Sea of Cortez to life for local children, sparking their love for the environment. Maritza believes in the power of education to extend beyond the classroom and into the natural world, where every "wow" and "ah" from her students is a song of hope for a sustainable future. Maritza continues her path as an educator, collaborating with the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Foundation as one of eight ambassadors, where she teaches hundreds of parents and students across Southern Arizona how to create their own science fair project, and constructs paper rockets to foster youth scientific reasoning.
Each year, Maritza and her mother engage in the traditional planting of nopal, a resilient cactus that thrives in harsh conditions. “Synonymous with hope, endemic to the Altar Desert, central to the Mexican Coat of Arms; the soil I grew up on has borne its fruits for centuries,” explains Maritza. “I found my identity in the nopal: a plant that grows in drought, thriving regardless of the conditions,” she adds. This connection to her roots has shaped her into a scientist who integrates her cultural identity with her curiosity for the natural world. Maritza is the first woman in her family to pursue science (hoping to earn a Ph.D.), and she stood out as the only Latina in her past lab. Her research on the nopal cactus has led to the development of a novel filtration material, merging tradition with science to create accessible solutions for communities worldwide. With meticulous techniques, she also works independently, supported by Dr. McEvoy, to understand the historical relationship between tourism and water security in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.
Now, she hosts a podcast for youth by youth, “Cientifica Discussions,” where she features the science stories of Latino youth from across the United States, interviewing RSI alums, NCWIT national award winners, non-profit founders, Gates scholarship finalists, Princeton Prize winners, and International Science and Engineering Fair finalists. These scientists share their experiences from high school as first-generation, low-income, and/or rural background students to make STEM more accessible to Latino youth. On @Maritzastudies, she leads an education campaign focused on spotlighting scholarships, studying habits, and college application advice for high schoolers like her, with over 500K impressions and 300K views.
Addressing the challenges faced by the Hispanic community, Maritza is determined to confront the cultural stigma surrounding academia. She advocates for breaking down barriers to education and increasing access to higher learning, especially for Latino youth. Her initiatives aim to foster a greater appreciation for education, encouraging students and parents alike to embrace learning as a path to social mobility and success. Currently, she is authoring an English-Spanish bilingual middle school book titled “Soy Un Científico! I am a Scientist!” which focuses on highlighting the journey of a student who creates their own science fair project. She explains to youth what a mentor is, how to create reproducible research, data analysis, project pitches, and concurrently incorporates the foundations of the scientific method throughout the writing.
Giving back to her community is a central part of Maritza’s life. From her early days teaching English to her classmates in a school lacking educators, to her current efforts in political activism, she has tirelessly worked to empower her community. She is the only Latina on the elected executive board for Voter Choice Arizona and has politically organized with other civic organizations like the League of Women Voters, Institute for Citizens and Scholars, Turn Up Activism, Junior State of America, and Mission for Arizona, campaigning to thousands of voters, translating complex electoral reforms, registering voters, and fostering a culture of civic engagement. Through her work, Maritza has become a powerful voice for the underserved and overexploited Latino communities of Arizona, using education and advocacy as tools for change. Additionally, she is the inaugural president of the Pima County Health Department Youth Executive Board, where she spearheads mental health and substance abuse awareness initiatives for the 160,000 students enrolled in the Pima County school district.
Maritza will continue making waves as she advances her studies at Stanford University, focusing on environmental science and public policy with a minor in chemistry. This remarkable Latina is not only shaping a sustainable future but also paving the way for the next generation of leaders to follow in her footsteps, proving that with dedication and compassion, we can indeed create a better world.
