Facilitator Alexis Kelley leads an exercise that includes Anaíz Daniels (foreground).
For many young people, considering whether to attend college is as big as the decision-making usually gets. And they often do it alone.
But for a group of youths no older than 18, they upped the ante by leading discussions that ultimately could impact the entire state.
More specifically, eight Chief Science Officers of the SciTech Institute served as moderators of conversations among nearly 50 other young people on what to consider when siting locations for nuclear waste storage.
To do this, SciTech Institute worked with 3CAZ — short for Community, Capacity and Collaboration in Arizona — to host two forums for high school students from across the Phoenix metro area. The Institute is a collaborative initiative of the Arizona Technology Council and Arizona Commerce Authority.
The meetings were part of 3CAZ’s larger effort to gather the public’s perspectives on nuclear waste management in the state. The goal is to inform the U.S. Department of Energy through a fair and community-driven process on where to build storage facilities, although currently there are no plans to site such facilities.
Still, the forums specifically for younger people offered the opportunity for the CSOs to draw input from their peers on topics that could impact their generation and others that follow in Arizona. Acting as moderators also let them gauge their own growth in SciTech’s CSO program designed to let students in 6th through 12th grades serve as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) leaders and ambassadors in their schools and communities.
For the forums, the moderators guided others in their groups through various activities to weigh priorities generated by the 3CAZ team in earlier consultations with communities throughout Arizona, nuclear waste experts and other stakeholders. For example, environment ranked the highest as an overall category of priorities established at the forums, followed by transparency and facility monitoring and security.
Reaching such a conclusion by young people might not have been possible previously without the growth offered in the CSO program.
“Being a Chief Science Officer with SciTech Institute gave me the confidence and communication skills to lead thoughtful conversations,” says CSO Marek, a 10th grader in Mesa. “The citizen forum on nuclear energy management was my first time talking in-depth about nuclear energy, and I was surprised by how many layers there are to managing nuclear waste. Science, safety, ethics and equity all play a role. Most importantly, I learned that I’m capable of creating space for others to be heard, even on tough topics. That’s something I’ll carry with me beyond this project.”
Another student credited the forum with deepening his own thought processes and piquing his interest in applying to become part of the CSO program.
“I learned how important it is to ask not just ‘What should we do?’ but ‘Who does it affect?’ and ‘Who gets to decide?’” says Pranav V., a 12thvgrader in Phoenix. “Personally, I found out that I do well in settings where I can listen and lead at the same time. It made me feel like a real part of something that matters.”
Jeremy Babendure, SciTech Institute’s executive director, noted why opportunities like the 3CAZ forum both benefit from and are beneficial for Arizona CSO leadership.
“By moderating complex conversations about nuclear waste storage, our Chief Science Officers demonstrated not only a deep understanding of STEM topics but also the skill to lead their peers through difficult discussions,” he says. “Their ability to connect science with community values is exactly why the CSO program exists: to prepare students to be thoughtful, inclusive decision-makers in our ever-evolving world.”
Visit to learn more about the CSO International program.
