"Youth Day" at CEA-Cadarache

Youngsters participating in the "CEA-Jeunes" program are given an opportunity to discover how science activities reflect society's needs and preoccupations and ... how exciting they can be.

"CEA-Jeunes," which could translate as "CEA-Youth Day," was established in 1994 to provide junior high students with a two-day experience of daily life at a major research centre.

CEA-Cadarache, like all CEA centres throughout the country, participates in the event. On 25 and 26 March this year, 200 students from 20 neighbouring "colleges" (junior high schools) were welcomed onsite for various workshops on nuclear energy, safety and life sciences.

As part of the event, five 15-year-old students volunteered to produce a two-page newsletter,_Ho_/newsline/Documents/schoolchildren.pdf_HoX_ ITERnet_Hx_, about the ITER project and work progress on the platform.

Youngsters participating in the "CEA-Jeunes" program are given an opportunity to discover the wide range of activities being conducted in a nuclear research centre, how these activities reflect society's needs and preoccupations and ... how exciting they can be.

After experiencing—however briefly and superficially—what a scientist's or an engineer's work is all about, perhaps some of the participating students will embrace scientific studies.

Enrollment in science programs that had been dramatically waning for the past two decades, now appears to be stabilized—experiences like "CEA-Jeunes" certainly contributed to this evolution.