This past week was a significant one for our 2026 cohort of youth fellows. Monday through Wednesday, the fellows led Earth Week teach-ins at Grant, Madison, and Cleveland high schools. Across three days, they reached 927 students in homeroom blocks, elective periods, and after-school assemblies.
For the fellows, this was their first major piece of public-facing programming. They built the curriculum, pitched it to school principals, iterated after pilot runs, and showed up to deliver it in front of rooms of their peers. I want to share what they did, what they learned, and — because this is a post about a youth program — a few things in the fellows' own voices.
The Curriculum
The teach-ins followed a 45-minute structure the fellows developed together over February and March.
Opening segment (10 minutes): local climate data. Each session opened with three data visualizations pulled from our Open Climate Data portal, specific to the neighborhoods each school draws from. Students looked at local temperature trends, local air quality exposure, and local tree canopy coverage over the past 20 years. This segment was designed specifically to ground the larger climate conversation in places the students actually live.
Middle segment (20 minutes): the questions nobody knows how to ask. This was the fellows' innovation, and in my view the most interesting piece of the curriculum. They anonymously collected questions from classmates in the week before each teach-in — questions about climate change that students felt awkward asking in class. Questions like, is it too late? and why do my parents seem more worried than my teachers? and what happens when the ocean runs out of fish? The fellows then answered the most-asked questions in plain language, including when the answer was uncertain.
Closing segment (15 minutes): one thing I can actually do. The fellows walked students through a short decision framework for finding a climate action that matched their actual capacity. Not "drive less" if you do not drive. Not "vote" if you are 14. The framework produced actions that fit specific life circumstances, with real local resources linked to each one.
What Worked
A few things surprised us.
Students engaged most with the data they recognized. The portal visualizations of their own neighborhoods held more attention than any global climate data the fellows included in early drafts. Students pointed at maps and named streets. They asked about the sensor in the park two blocks from the school. They wanted to know whether they could get the data on their phones.
The anonymous questions segment created real conversation. Several teachers told us afterward that it was the most honest classroom discussion about climate change they had witnessed in years. The fellows had to do real preparation to answer some of the questions well. When they did not know an answer, they said so — which teachers also noted as unusually effective modeling for their students.
Peer voice mattered more than authority voice. A fellow who is fourteen years old talking about climate anxiety to other fourteen-year-olds lands differently than an adult climate educator making the same points. We already knew this in the abstract; watching it play out in the specific was clarifying.
What We Would Change
A few honest adjustments we are making for future iterations.
The 45-minute block was tight. Fellows had to move quickly through the final segment and did not always have time for the full action-framework discussion. A 60-minute version would work better; we will pitch that structure for the fall programming.
The data segment required more teacher-support material than we initially provided. Several teachers asked follow-up questions in the hallway that the fellows could not always answer on the spot. We are producing a teacher-facing companion guide for the next round.
The fellows were also genuinely exhausted by Wednesday afternoon. Leading three days of public programming is a significant load for students who are also keeping up with their own schoolwork. We are spreading future rounds over a longer window.
In the Fellows' Own Voices
I asked a few fellows to share short reflections on the week. Edited lightly for length.
"The best moment was at Madison when a ninth grader asked me, 'Is it okay to have kids if you care about the climate?' I told her that was one of the hardest questions anyone had asked me, and that I did not think there was one right answer, but that I thought about it too. After class she came up and said thank you for being honest. I have been thinking about that the whole week." — Malia, junior
"I did not think I would be nervous going into it, and I was completely wrong. I almost threw up before the first session. But once we started, it was fine. The room was full of my friends and people I know. We were just talking. I think I want to do more of this kind of work." — Dev, senior
"I learned that I do not actually know that much about climate science. The preparation for this forced me to read more carefully than I ever have. I am a better student now than I was in January." — Luz, sophomore
What Is Next
The fellows are spending the next few weeks processing what they learned and integrating it into the summer programming they are designing. The full 2026 fellows arc includes:
- May: Community science skill-building (field sampling, data entry protocols, quality control).
- June–August: Summer research project. Each fellow selects an independent investigation with mentorship from a TerraFuture researcher.
- September–October: Public presentation season. Fellows present their findings to community audiences and in at least one school setting.
- November: Final policy brief, authored by the fellows, published through the Advocacy program.
If you are a teacher, youth organizer, or parent interested in hosting the 2027 fellows for a teach-in or classroom visit, we will begin accepting requests for the next academic year in September. Our schedule fills about six months out.
A Note on the Investment
Youth climate programming is sometimes dismissed as symbolic — nice for the young people, but not where the real work gets done. I want to push back on that directly. The fellows this week did work that we would have paid outside consultants five figures to do. The curriculum they produced is good enough that we have been asked to license it to three other organizations. The reach they had is larger than most of our adult programming.
Youth leadership in climate work is not a sidebar. In our experience, it is one of the most resource-efficient and high-impact pieces of what we do. We are grateful for the foundations and individual donors who make it possible. And we are, without reservation, proud of this year's cohort.
Earth Week continues tomorrow. Happy Earth Day in advance.
