Leadership Los Alamos Youth Session Explores Education, Workforce Pathways

Carter Payne, LAPS Assistant Superintendent, UNM-LA Chancellor Mike Holtzclaw, and Teen Center Director Eli Argo anchored Leadership Los Alamos's youth and education session March 13 at the UNM-LA campus, walking the civic leadership class through the institutional connections that link a Los Alamos student's years at LAHS to a career at the national laboratory that defines the county's economy.

The session, part of LLA's Class of 2025-2026 program year, convened educators, civic leaders, and students to examine K-12 trends, higher education options at UNM-LA, and the channels between local schools, LANL, and area businesses. Class members toured UNM-LA facilities and heard presentations on programs currently serving the student population before the afternoon turned over to students themselves.

Judge Elizabeth Allen presented "Hawk Hangout," the monthly gathering for middle schoolers, and outlined Teen Court, programs that operate at the community-engagement end of the student pipeline. Lunch from Pi-239 Pizzeria was underwritten by Zia Credit Union.

After the break, cadets from LAHS's NJROTC program demonstrated drills under instructor Matthew Bohlen, then shifted to something harder to choreograph: a direct conversation with the LLA class about what they see as the real challenges facing Los Alamos teenagers. That exchange gave adult civic leaders unfiltered student perspective in a session otherwise organized around institutional presentations.

For families tracking what is actionable right now, UNM-LA is hosting a dual credit informational session April 14 at the LAHS library. The program waives tuition for up to two college courses per semester for qualified high school students, meaning a LAHS junior or senior can enter UNM-LA this fall carrying transferable credits at no cost. The next rung is LANL's High School Cooperative program, which provides qualified northern New Mexico seniors year-round exposure to technical and administrative career fields at the laboratory; LANL hosts more than 1,500 high school, undergraduate, and graduate student interns annually through its student programs office.

LLA is a nonprofit working through a structured annual curriculum that moves its class of civic leaders through community organizations, local government, economic development, and environmental issues each year. The March 13 session placed the people who run LAPS, UNM-LA, and the Teen Center in the same room as active LAHS cadets for a full day. That cross-sector contact is the precondition for moving pipeline conversations in Los Alamos from intention to enrollment.