A Pella High School student is being recognized as a winner of the 2015 President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA).

The annual program sponsored by the White House and EPA recognizes outstanding environmental projects by K-12 youth.

Laurel Stelter was among the national winners of the 2015 PEYAs announced this week in Washington D.C. Established in 1971, the awards program recognizes young people for their outstanding efforts to protect the nation’s air, water, land and ecology.

Stelter started an extensive recycling program associated with RAGBRAI. The seven-day cross-state event draws thousands of cyclists and spectators to Iowa each summer. Stelter, herself a cyclist, complained to her mother after her first three RAGBRAIs that the event needed recycling support to address the waste left behind. Stelter’s mother challenged her to do something about it, and the result became a comprehensive project to enlist and educate host communities along the ride’s route to support recycling.