ABC7 Star Scholar: South San Francisco's James Coleman

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- ABC7 is recognizing seven Bay Area high school seniors for their extraordinary achievements and awards each with a $1,000 scholarship toward his or her college education. Here's a look at a Star Scholar from South San Francisco who is a soon-to-be scientist and climate change activist.

James Coleman is into competitive swimming and said his favorite stroke is the breaststroke. He's also fighting to protect our planet. "My environmental passion began when I was pretty young," Coleman said. "I was just outdoors a lot and that's something that I cherished and valued and when I learned about climate change. That's something that is irreversible compared to other social issues and I think is something really urgent for us."

Coleman is a leader at South San Francisco High School, where he is valedictorian, in student government and countless clubs. But it's off this South City campus that he feels he's made the most impact. "ACE which stands for Alliance For Climate Education. It's basically a coalition of high school students around the Bay Area who meet together and fight for climate justice," Coleman said.

Most recently this ACE fellow took part in the "Kids vs. Trump" march in San Francisco in May to support young people fighting for their right to a clean environment and stable climate. "I always want to be an activist going to marches, protesting, maybe even planning more in the future, but I still want to be a scientist do research in neuroscience, biology things like that," he said.

Coleman is headed to Harvard University in the fall to study biological science and most likely adding political science to that degree as well.

You can watch our ABC7 Star Scholar special on Sunday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. Click here to learn about our other Star Scholars.

Do you know a change-maker in your community? They can apply for a $500 Summer of Service grant for their community project. Just go to ysa.org/beinspired.

Written and produced by Jennifer Rumple.