Baylee Ritter
Baylee is a junior at DePaul University, double majoring in Public Relations & Advertising and Communication Studies and minoring in Environmental Communication. She has been instrumental in establishing several international service-learning programs. As one of the founders and student leaders of the International Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Program, she has worked directly with students, police stations and pharmacies around the world to dispose of unwanted or unused prescription medication. In 2012, her program was named by the United Nations Environmental Program as the number one student environmental program in the United States and the third best program in the world in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2013, Baylee was asked to be a keynote speaker at the United Nations Tunza International Youth Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. In April of 2014, Baylee was also the keynote speaker on water preservation and the P2D2 program at the International Science and Arts Festival in Istanbul Turkey. Baylee has been a part of several youth advisory councils including the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Youth Advisory Council and the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, where she was the environmental chair and responsible for distributing $10 million dollars to environmental k-12 service projects around the United States. Baylee has attended Sea Youth Rise Up on behalf of the Oceans Project for two years in New York City.This year, Baylee was a guest speaker at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. She spoke during the high-level side event called “The Ocean – a wealth of opportunities” on behalf of the World Oceans Day Youth Advisory Council, which she is a member of. Baylee was also the guest speaker for a keynote panel with Dr. Bridget Coughlin on conservation projects for zoos and aquariums at the annual Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Indianapolis, Indiana. Baylee has also worked for Shedd Aquarium’s Public Relations department and will be interning for their Conversation Policy and Advocacy department this March.