Teen workshops

Join us for our annual week of summer workshops for high schoolers that spotlight local and global issues and offer inspiring ways to take action and change the world.

Choose your own adventure: You can pick the topic that most excites you and make it a one-day experience, or you can take as many workshops as you like! Workshops are free and open to rising 9th through 12th grade students.  Space is limited.   

Summer 2024

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Teen Week Workshop

Monday, July 22, 2024 | 10 am – 3 pm PDT
Discovery Center

GLOBAL GOALS | What does it mean to solve problems on a global level? How do we make lasting change? The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals can help guide the way. Join us for games, hands-on activities, connections with changemakers, and tools to tackle challenges in your community. 

Teens hold up small circular signs while smiling at the camera. The signs say "Who?" "Where?" and "Culture" respectively.

Teen Week Workshop

Tuesday, July 23, 2024 | 10 am – 3 pm PDT
Discovery Center

ALL ABOUT FOOD | Food is essential to all human life, but only some people – globally or locally – have equal access to nutritious food. Join us in learning about global agriculture, sustainable food systems, and how to take action. 

Maria Mtele holds recently harvested orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in a field in Mwasonge, Tanzania. Maria is a mother of 5 and farmer in Tanzania who relies on farming for food and income. Through a local agricultural program, Maria learned about a new crop of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, specifically bred to thrive in sub-Saharan Africa. They taught her about soil irrigation, crop multiplication, and how to get her crops to market. She is now a leader in her farming group and teaches others what she’s learned. Maria increased her families’ income and she is using this new income to build a new, sturdy home.

Teen Week Workshop

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 | 10 am – 3 pm PDT
Discovery Center

FIGHTING DISEASE | We can end or dramatically reduce disease worldwide; it is a question of commitment and resources. Join us in learning about how equitable systems and individuals have a role to play in fighting disease globally and locally.  

A young girl after receiving the HPV vaccine in a clinic in Nigeria.
A young girl after receiving the HPV vaccine during the first phase of a country-wide HPV Vaccination Campaign targeting school-age girls between 9 and 14 years old in Lagos State, Nigeria. ©Gates Archive/Nyancho NwaNri

Teen Lounge

Thursday, July 25, 2024 | 3 – 7 pm PDT
Discovery Center

The Teen Lounge, is open to all teens ages 13 to 19.! Bring your friends and drop by the Discovery Center to meet other teens and explore our gallery spaces. You can join in for games, gallery tours, activities, snacks and a live DJ. 

Youth Ambassadors laughing together during Teen Action Fair 2023.

Teen Week Workshop

Thursday, July 25, 2024 | 10 am – 3 pm PDT
Discovery Center

SANITATION & DESIGN THINKING | Half of the world needs a toilet and the other half needs a better one, what if new innovations could solve our sanitation challenges? Come learn about sanitation, its challenges, and ways to approach them.

  • Close up of sign with hand-written messages of stigma affirmations
  • Teen visitors enjoy the "Our Work" gallery in the Discovery Center while interacting with a quiz.
  • Students colaborating in a classroom
  • Students looking at a microscope projection
  • students presenting innovative ideas to classmates at the Discovery Center
  • Close up of sign with hand-written messages of stigma affirmations
  • Teen visitors enjoy the "Our Work" gallery in the Discovery Center while interacting with a quiz.
    Visitors enjoy the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center in Seattle, WA on June 20, 2023.
  • Students colaborating in a classroom
    Students attend a microbiology class at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, MD onon November 21, 2016.
  • Students looking at a microscope projection
  • students presenting innovative ideas to classmates at the Discovery Center
    Presenters, visitors, and volunteers attend the 2015 Teen Action Fair at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center in Seattle, WA on April 25, 2015. A public celebration of young civic leaders, Teen Action Fair is designed to galvanize young leaders and create excitement about giving back. Presenting organizations include Washington State University 4-H Youth Development Program, Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Junior Asha, Maple Valley Youth Council, and African Promise Foundation.

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