by CSO Nikhil Johnson, Northern High School, Phoenix

Hello! My name is CSO Nikhil and I’m the fifth year elected Chief Science Officer from North High School in Phoenix, Arizona. The literal definition of being a Chief Science Officer is a student ambas-sador for STEM at your respective school where you can help make decisions for the STEM initiative, however, for me it has been so much more. 

Just a couple of years ago, I was terrified of failure and was stuck in a bubble of being introvert-ed. However, I wanted to make an impact in my community. The pairing of mentors like Omar Alam from Viasat in addition to the encouragement of my CSO peers helped me seek dis-comfort and adapt myself to become an extrovert. In the future, I hope to use my mental balance, emotional intelligence, and leadership skills to make an impact as a doctor and community leader. 

Ever since I first earned the position as a Chief Science Officer, I was highly motivated in showing stu-dents that STEM is in everything.     

For the past three years, I have been able to evolve this idea by developing environ-mental initiatives in my school, campus, and even the state! By implementing diverse action plans in the environmen-tal club that I founded at my school, I have had the opportunity to spearhead community cleanups, tree planting days in parks, hikes, PSAs, art statement pieces, and much more.      

Despite being in my senior year of high school and not officially being a CSO soon, I believe that my action plans can create a snowball of change. By showing my peers that you can advocate for what you believe in, I hope to create local changes that can cause global impacts.