My name is Sofia Wolf and I am a Chief Science Officer. Being a Chief Science Officer is an amazing experience! I started off in seventh grade knowing two things: I LOVE Science and I want to share my love of science and education with the world.

I was introduced to the Chief Science Officer program and my eyes opened up to a whole new world. Since I started being a Chief Science Officer I have become a member of the Leadership Council, I have met people that work for NASA, I have been to VIP technology events, I have met all of the mayors of Arizona, held my own events, and I got to spread so much S.T.E.M. throughout my community!

As CSO’s we all get to create an action plan. An action plan is our way of taking action in our world to spread education and STEM in any way possible. My current action plan is doing science every week with the 60 first- through third-graders at my school. I also hold a Kids Night Out event at my local science center—the Science Vortex.

Another action plan of mine is to create STEM kits for the first- through third-graders at my school, and let me tell you it’s not as easy as it sounds! The CSO program has helped me see a world that I have never been in before. I get to be a teacher and still learn at the same time! I get to see the people in my community’s faces light up when they see me do a science experiment with them or hand them a S.T.E.M. kit. Everything in our lives is a lesson and the lesson I'm learning how much good we can do in our world if we come together as a team and not hope it happens, but make it happen!

CSOs (Chief Science Officers) are students in grades 6–12 who serve as STEM ambassadors in their schools and communities. The CSO Program is part of the SciTech Institute. Look in the pages of Bear Essential each month to find out what exciting STEM projects CSOs are working on, learning about and sharing.

Photo: Scitechinstitute.org