Who We Are
The mission of the National High School Climate Forum (NHSCF) is to foster an exchange of ideas between high school student environmental leaders from across the country, in addition to educating students from our member schools about climate change and related topics. Today, the NHSCF involves 149 schools from 37 states, split into 4 regions.
What We Offer
Since our founding in September 2020, the NHSCF has approached our mission through three means: 1) Monthly newsletters to promote specific initiatives at our member schools, 2) Speaker Events, contributing to education on a host of environmental topics, and 3) the NHSCF Annual Youth Summit, which concludes each year.
Monthly Newsletters
We publish newsletters most months of the school year, consisting of sustainability tips, interesting resources about current events in climate change, information about environmental program opportunities for high school students, and, of course, highlighted articles about initiatives taking place at our member schools. We strive to distribute newsletters that will benefit our member schools advance their own projects.
Speaker Events
Each Fall and Winter, we host themed speaker events, in order to fulfill our mission to educate students at our member schools on climate change, sustainability, and related topics. Past speaker events have been focused on wildfires, sustainability on college campuses, the impact of climate change natural disasters, and the power of AI in shaping the future of conservation and climate strategies. Through these events, we have hosted top climate researchers and leaders at NOAA, IBM, Microsoft, the U.S. Forest Service, Princeton University, Bates College, and more.
Annual Summit
Each Spring, the NHSCF hosts our annual Youth Summit, the culminating and final event of the school year, in which students from our member schools have the opportunity to present on their work. In addition to our student presenters, we have hosted top leaders from General Motors, Conservation International, First Solar, eocAmerica, and the World Wildlife Fund at our 2021 and 2022 Summits. Our 2022 summit also featured opening remarks from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D - NJ), in addition to presentations by student representatives from sustainability groups at Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Team
NHSCF 2023-2024 Executive Leadership Team
Audrey Tomlin
Co-President
Polytechnic School, CA
Audrey Tomlin is a senior from Los Angeles, California. In addition to serving on the National High School Climate Forum leadership team, she is currently the President of Green Schools Poly, a club aiming to transition her school to 100% renewable energy by 2030. She is a fan of Taylor Swift and her hometown.
Sophia Zhou
Co-President
Princeton Day School, NJ
Sophia is a junior at Princeton Day School. She is passionate about the environment and is involved in disaster relief and modeing research. She is interested in the intersection of environmental and computer science. She loves to play soccer and in her free time, she likes to go to the woodshop or run.
Michelle Xu
Co-President
Princeton Day School, NJ
Michelle Xu is a junior at Princeton Day School in New Jersey. She became passionate about sustainability after learning about the threat it has on human health in school. She is interested in how environmental changes and exposures can potentially increase the risk of obtaining certain diseases. At school, she co-heads the environmental club EnAct. In her free time, Michelle enjoys creative writing, listening to music, going on walks, and practicing the piano.
Sathvik Samant
Technical Advisor
The Lawrenceville School, NJ
Sathvik is a freshman at The Lawrenceville School in NJ. He is passionate about computer science, and is particularly interested in the intersection between emerging technologies and human thought. Most of the time, you can find him in the pool, swimming competitively.
Sumin Seo
Southern Regional Lead
BASIS Shavano, TX
Sumin Seo is a junior in BASIS Shavano. She found interest in the environmental field as well as climate warming when she wrote a research paper about radical solutions to global warming during her freshman year. She is hoping to find more ways to solve the problem of climate and environmental changes as well as bring more awareness to global warming.
Mina Jun
Sustainability Advisor
Gibson Ek High School, WA
Mina Jun is a rising junior from Issaquah, Washington, and has worked on hosting a Sustainability Fair, interning at the City Hall's department of Sustainability, implementing compost and recycling education, and promoting her cities Climate-Action plan. She also loves listening to music, watching movies, and reading poetry!
Arden Reilly
Political Advisor
Princeton Day School, NJ
Arden is a sophmore at Princeton Day School, and is interested in the environment through her family. She goes to the beach every summer and when she sees how much climate change has effected the place she loves, she wants to take as many steps as she can to prevent it.
Zarah Cardona
Political Advisor
Princeton Day School, NJ
Bio coming soon.
Macey O'Kelley
West Regional Lead
California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, CA
Macey, a senior, became interested in environmental activism following the graduation of the environmental protection club leader at her school and joined NHSCF in 2022. She and her sister also lead a club called CSEarth in the hopes of supporting larger organizations and making activism-based artistic content. She enjoys watching (and analyzing) movies, drawing, and creative writing.
Rachel O'Kelley
Social Media Director
California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, CA
Rachel O’Kelley, a senior is a co-founder of the club, CSEarth, which focuses on promoting earth activism from the perspective of the arts. In addition to being an activist, Rachel enjoys art of all forms, both as a creator and a consumer. She has her own Etsy store, MonkeyRobotDesigns and is a writer and advocates on education and disability issues through The O’Kelley Lab. She is also a producer of the award-winning documentary, “O'Kelley Legends: 2e Behind the Scenes.”
Ian Lee
Northeast Regional Lead
The Lawrenceville School, NJ
Ian is currently a senior at the Lawrenceville School. He joined NHSCF in 2020 and has enjoyed helping it expand to its current scope. At school, he serves as the sustainability representative of the student council, driving both ground-level and administrative change in environmental awareness and campus carbon neutrality.
Tetsuya Tanaka
Northeast Regional Lead
The Cambridge School of Weston, MA
Tetsuya Tanaka is a senior at the Cambridge School of Weston in Massachusetts. He became involved in the field of sustainability during his sophomore year after witnessing the tremendous amount of plastic being used in a nearby supermarket and the lack of attention from the community. Since then, he has worked tirelessly in the field, hoping for a better future. In his free time, he enjoys reading books, watching anime, traveling, participating in MUN conferences, and taking photos. He hopes that through NHSCF, he can stimulate further action and raise awareness about climate change.
Delicia Liao
Midwest Regional Lead
Hawken School, OH
Delicia Liao is in 11th grade at Hawken School in Ohio, asides from the NHSCF, She is on her school’s policy debate team and run cross country and track. She got into environmental activism after researching the long term causes of climate change for a debate topic and realizing the all-consuming effect that climate change has on every aspect of life. Additionally, she enjoys listening to music on Spotify and baking in her free time.
Chris Mikesell
Midwest Regional Lead
Culver Academies, IN
Bio coming soon.