Café Scientifique is a program for high school teens interested in hot topics in the news related to science. Teens take ownership of the program through the Youth Leadership Teams. Each town has a Youth Leadership Team—open to any teen—that discusses and prioritizes potential Café topics, conducts campaigns to advertise and draw other kids to the Cafés, and runs the meetings, while the program staff members stay in the background and provide support as needed. YLT members participate in the committees described below.
 
If you are a high school teen and are interested in participating in the Youth Leadership Team for your town, all you have to do is go to a Café meeting and give your name to the adult staff member. Other YLT members will show you the ropes!
 
Questions? Look further down this page for some answers.
 

The Café program consists of two events per month in each town, a Café presentation and discussion and a discovery event. During the Café presentation, a speaker introduces a topic for discussion with a 20-minute presentation. Refreshments and an open discussion for an hour follow the presentation. The discovery event may precede or follow the Café presentation. It is designed to deepen your understanding of the Café topic. The activity will be chosen by the Youth Leadership Team.
 
Our committees are designed to divide the responsibilities of guiding the Café program so that many more teens can get involved in leading and participating in the program. There is a role for everyone.

Recruitment & Outreach
 

• Help design and distribute posters and flyers about Café events
• Create news articles and such for school / town newsletters and papers
• Contact other groups and organizations with similar goals to partner with us
• Develop creative ideas for recruitment and outreach
• Contribute content to the Café Facebook and MySpace sites
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up
• More details about this committee

Welcome
 

• Meet and greet all participants in the Café
• Distribute and gather feedback forms
• Develop and maintain lists of email, phone and other contact information for Café participants
• Contribute content to the Café Facebook and MySpace sites
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up

Technology
 

• Learn to create high quality audio and video recordings of the Café meetings and perform these tasks during each meeting
• Photograph meeting activities for posting on the website
• Provide feedback on the Café Web design
• Contribute content to the Café Facebook and MySpace sites
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up

Welcome Table
 

• Develop and maintain lists of email, phone and other contact information for Café participants
• Meet and greet all participants in the Café. Maintain an active participant list so they can be contacted about future events
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up

Opening and Closing Activities
 

• Be the master of ceremonies for meetings
• Learn to create high quality audio and video recordings of the Café meetings and perform these tasks during each meeting
• Photograph meeting activities for posting on the website
• Facilitate discussion with the speaker. Learn more about facilitating a discussion
• Provide closing comments
• Award the door prize
• Contribute content to the Café Facebook and MySpace sites
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up

Refreshments
 

• Plan a menu for each meeting. Work with adult leader to purchase refreshments
• Set up and supervise food table so that it is eye appealing and allows flow of people quickly through the line. Make sure food supplies are adequately maintained
• Clean up and store all food, dishes, etc., properly for the next meeting
• Contribute content to the Café Facebook and MySpace sites
• Help plan all events
• Provide feedback on all events
• Assist with event set up and clean up

What's in it for me?

Above all, we hope you will find leading the Café program interesting and fun...and not particularly stressful. We hope you will get a kick out of being part of something new and completely different. You and your peers will be the key to the success of this experimental program, and when it's successful, it will spread to other parts of the country. You will have a chance to learn some new skills that may serve you well in other areas later. You will get to be part of an elite team. You will have a chance to meet some new people. And, being part of the Youth Leadership Team will look really good on your resume when you apply to college or for a job. If you are a MESA member, you even get scholarship points.

What is expected of me? What am I supposed to do?

Again, the success of the program will depend on the YLT. So it will be up to you and your peers to be part of setting up and running the Café sessions, deciding what topics will be most appealing to your fellow teens, spreading the word about the program and encouraging people to come to the Cafés, and generally working together to make the program work. It will be important to be active in doing the work of whatever committee you are on. It will be very important to come on time to the meetings. You will need to check your e-mail every day or so to make sure you are up on what's going on. Be in touch with us regularly with questions or ideas. Call out for help on email or our social network when you get swamped with other commitments and can't handle your Café commitments. It happens to everyone! It will be very helpful indeed for YLT members to participate in the social networking internet pages, to tell everyone what they have been up to and contributing their ideas. Also, it will be helpful for you to contribute your comments to the blog on the Café Web site following each presentation.

How much is it OK to take some initiative or am I just supposed to do what I'm told?

This program is all new to all of us, and there is no set way of doing anything. We are all making this up as we go along. We absolutely encourage YLT members to take a lot of initiative. You are going to have good ideas that no one has thought of. You may have ideas about people you think ought to know about the program, go after them. You may have ideas about better ways to advertise. You may have ideas about some interesting topics related to science that no one has thought of, you should promote having Cafés on such topics. You are very much encouraged to put up your ideas on the social network site, there are no bad ideas here. You should feel free to contact people you know in your school or in other towns about the Café. In general, we just want you to be out there doing stuff, and to the extent your time permits. We understand you are all busy.

I am volunteering for a committee, but I am a little nervous because I don't have that much experience, how much help can I count on?

Don't worry. A lot of this is going to be new to us all. We will all have a learning curve. You are not going to be out there on your own. You will be working as part of a team and you will be able to help each other. And the adult organizers are going to be there to help you and support you in any way you need it. You need only to ask.

How much extra time will it require to be on the YLT?

In this first year as we continue designing the program, youth leaders will meet for an hour once or twice a month in the beginning two months, then only 30 minutes or so once we get the routine down. The shorter meetings could be held right after a Café presentation or on another day, what ever works for the team. At these meetings, we will iron out details for the next meeting and pick follow up activities. Additionally, some of our discussion can be done by email or on our MySpace or Facebook sites, whatever works best for the group.

What is this social network all about?

We have set up Café Scientifique groups in MySpace and Facebook to better communicate with you and other teens interested in the Café Scientifique program. Each town has its own groups - one on MySpace and one on Facebook. You can join the group any time. It is a place for all participants in the Café to sign on and learn about and from each other. We will make regular postings of news about the program and about interesting science discoveries we learn about. Sign up and check it out!

• Albuquerque Facebook Albuquerque Café Scientifique
• Santa Fe Facebook Café Scientifique NM - Santa Fe
• Española/Pojoaque Facebook Café Scientifique NM - Española/Pojoaque
• Los Alamos Facebook Café Scientifique NM - Los Alamos