Attention high schoolers: Apply for NOAA’s Young Changemakers Fellowship by June 10!
The Young Changemakers Fellowship is a year-long empowerment program for high school students. Fellows receive mentorship, skill-building opportunities, and support from NOAA to design and lead an action project in their own community. They also learn about how NOAA works and directly provide their perspectives on agency priorities to NOAA’s leadership team.
The Young Changemakers Fellowship class of 2023-2024 visited the Capitol building to learn about its history and the lawmaking activities that go on inside it.
"The Young Changemakers Fellowship is a fantastic and unique opportunity, both for the student participants and for the agency," says NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. "I look forward to learning from the perspectives of this upcoming cohort of changemakers."
The program runs from July 2024 through June 2025. Fellowship benefits include an expenses-paid kick-off summit in Washington, D.C., a $800 participation stipend, and up to $750 of action project funding.
The fellowship is open to young people ages 13 and older who will be in high school during the 2024-2025 school year. Students living and attending school across the United States, U.S. territories, and tribal nations are encouraged to apply. The program welcomes students with a wide variety of interests, as well — aspiring artists, communicators, tech innovators, and educators are just as appreciated as budding scientists and future policy makers.
"We encourage all interested high school students to apply, even if they don’t view themselves as changemakers quite yet," says Lauren Gibson, Ph.D., who manages the fellowship. "This program is all about learning and growth — both for the students and for our agency."
The application launch for the upcoming cohort of changemakers comes on the heels of a successful pilot year. During the 2023-2024 school year, nine students were nominated to pilot the Young Changemakers Fellowship through the eeBLUE offsite link partnership, a five-year agreement between the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) offsite link and NOAA's Office of Education that aims to increase environmental and scientific literacy. This year, NOAA will select up to 15 program participants via a competitive application process.
For more information on the program and how to apply, please visit the Young Changemakers Fellowship website. Applications are due on June 10, 2024.
