Quinn Coulter, a 10th grader at Waynesboro Area Senior High School in Franklin County, has been selected as one of the 28 Young Ambassadors of Pennsylvania for the 2025-2026 cohort, announced by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (KPB).
From September through May 2026, Ambassadors will develop civic leadership skills and gain hands-on experience as they champion and advocate for clean and beautiful communities across Pennsylvania.
“Restoring and preventing environmental damage means making sure our future leaders have the ecological know-how to make sustainable change happen,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “Youth across the state are more engaged in this fight than ever before. With the fourth year of the Young Ambassadors program underway, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and PennDOT are helping plant the seeds for a cleaner future.”
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will award two $1000 scholarships — one to a current senior in the Young Ambassadors program and one to an alum of the program.
“We’re excited to kick off the fourth year of the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Young Ambassador Program! Each year, these amazing young leaders bring fresh ideas and real energy to our communities. We continue to be inspired by the passion, creativity, and leadership they demonstrate. We’re proud to support this next generation of changemakers,” said Shannon Reiter, President, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will provide education and training to program participants on topics related to the impacts of litter, litter prevention, waste management and recycling, civic engagement and related public policy, volunteer management, and social media marketing. Ambassadors will have an opportunity to apply for job shadowing with Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania funded by the NiSource Charitable Foundation. Selected students will spend the day in the field with sustainability professionals. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will provide a stipend to participants to support time and travel expenses.
For more information about the program and the Young Ambassadors, visit the program page or contact Kylie McCutcheon at [email protected].
The Young Ambassador program was recommended in the commonwealth’s Litter Action Plan, announced by the Wolf administration in 2021 in response to a 2019 Pennsylvania Litter Research Study, which found Pennsylvania has more than 500 million pieces of litter on its roadways. The action plan includes strategies for all Pennsylvanians to fight litter in their communities.
