Sarina Virmani is a sophomore at Riverside High School in Leesburg, Virginia. She is the founder and executive director of ElevateVoices, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying the voices of underrepresented individuals. Through her experience, Sarina has found that debate skills and public speaking are crucial tools for advocacy and social change. Recognizing that access to public speaking and debate opportunities are often limited to those with significant resources, Sarina created ElevateVoices to break the cycle of inequality. Through ElevateVoices, Sarina designed customized literacy toolkits and free public speaking workshops that make debate skills accessible to those in underserved areas. Sarina fostered community, national and international partnerships, teaching more than 500 people in multiple continents and raising more than $5,000 for her initiatives promoting public speaking and teaching effective communication. Locally, these toolkits and workshops have reached Indian and Thai immigrant communities as well as low-income populations in rural areas in Virginia. ElevateVoices has expanded internationally to individuals in Rwanda, Kenya and India. Sarina is currently expanding ElevateVoices to address climate literacy through a environmental justice branch that provides workshops focused on simplified climate education, in collaboration with organizations dedicated to sustainability. Beyond ElevateVoices, Sarina serves on Loudoun County’s Youth Advisory Council and on the Loudoun Equity Committee, where she continues to advocate for racial equity. She also served as an international ambassador for the World Literacy Foundation.