“In the last two days I’ve had four different speaking occasions. I kind of work past the nerves because this is such an important issue,” said the Year 11 student. “It’s bigger than me.”

Two of the engagements — at Parliament House for the inaugural 2019 Stead Memorial Environmental Lecture, and at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre as part of Australian Geographic’s Award Winners’ Roadshow — took place in a single day.

That Skarparis is motivated is a given. The young conservationist’s efforts to abolish plastic pollution saw her awarded the title National Geographic Young Conservationist of the Year in October by the Duchess of Sussex (“Meeting Meghan Markle was so surreal. There were so many feelings happening at the same moment. I was just like, ‘Whoa!’,” she said). In January, she was named Young Citizen of the Year by both North Sydney and Willoughby City Councils. “We were running between the two local councils on Australia Day,” her mum Linda Curtis said.

It all started thanks to Monte, who have been incredibly supportive of their student’s efforts. “In Year 10 we got to do a personal project, dedicated to whatever we were passionate about, so I decided to do something about plastic pollution,” she said.

It was a topic that had been on her mind for a while. “I’d been educated during primary school about plastic pollution, but the epiphany happened when I started to see it in my own life. Soccer is my favourite sport, and I started to realise that there was all this plastic on the field where I was training. I started to question where it was ending up and whose fault it was. I did some research and realised it was a worldwide problem — it wasn’t just isolated to soccer grounds — and that it was our fault.

“When I found out Coles and Woolworths were fazing out plastic bags and that NSW was the only state not to ban them, I knew I wanted to create a petition. I felt the way to make change was through government, although I have learned that isn’t necessarily correct.”

Skarparis launched her petition and gathered 12,000 signatures, more than double her original target of 5000. It wasn’t as easy as posting a plea online and waiting for shares — the student was required to have physical signatures, along with addresses of those pledging support. “I got 7000 signatures from local schools and other schools around NSW, because youth want change. We’re the generation it will be effecting,” she said. The remaining 5000 names were gathered at movie screenings, beach clean-ups and various events hosted by Surfrider Foundation Australia, an organisation dedicated to protecting Australia’s beaches through conservation.

By the time her project was completed, Skarparis’ passion for the cause had been irrevocably ignited. “When I saw it had so much support, I knew that I wanted to continue,” she said. “I wanted to spend every second of my life doing it.”

Skarparis set about tackling plastic usage close to home. She audited her school’s rubbish, which, up to that point, had been dumped in general waste. “Now we have huge recycling and compost bins,” she said. The Monte cafeteria went plastic free.

Skarparis convinced her pilates teacher to stop offering plastic water bottles in class (“If you forget your water bottle, you borrow the reusable bottle there”), and her Willoughby home — where she lives with her mother and father, Con Skarparis — now embraces their compost bin and bulk-buys food to eliminate waste. Skarparis’ friends are all on board, of course. “My whole group is aware now. Before, they’d use cling wrap but now we use bees wax wraps, or just our lunch boxes,” she said.

The last 12 months have been a whirlwind, and there have been several highlights for Skarparis — not least her brush with royalty. “I never thought I’d meet people like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry,” Skarparis said. “They were incredibly sweet and so supportive. You can see they are passionate about this generation and they want to see change.”

That the teen feels the same dedication to safeguarding the planet for future generations is clear — indeed her voice changes from polite to fiery when she talks about the effect plastic pollution is having on the planet. “I don’t want future generations and marine life to be impacted by the decisions we make now. We can’t sit around hoping that someone will effect change, because if we do that, no one will,” she said.

Now she has found her calling, the young environmentalist hopes to continue to educate via speaking when she finishes school. Ah yes — school. What about the little matter of balancing environmentalism with study? Skarparis said she “nails through” homework when she gets home, and dedicates much of her spare time to her two sports: soccer (she plays for North Shore Mariners) and basketball.

“I guess it’s just having that balance,” she said. “I’m pretty on top of it. I have a diary and my mum helps me with it — she’s my mummy-manager.”

Curtis is incredibly proud of her daughter and admits there were tears when she met the royals. “When Sophia finished her speech, Prince Harry gave her a thumbs up. I was like, ‘Thank you, Prince Harry!’ because it just motivated her even more,” she said.

“Sophia is very humble. She has Greek heritage on Con’s side — his parents were born in Cyprus and came here as migrants. They were typical migrants, you know, helping people to assimilate. There is obviously something in Sophia’s genes — she just loves helping people.”

Follow Sophia’s journey at plasticfreesophia.com and instagram.com/plasticfreesophia