The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management recognized outgoing student representatives Aditya Chourey and Claire Rowcliffe at the March board meeting.

ORSSAB is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to the DOE Oak Ridge Environmental Management Program, which is responsible for the cleanup of the Oak Ridge Reservation. Each year it provides seats for two non-voting student representatives from area high schools. In addition to participating at board meetings, students serve on the board’s Environmental Management & Stewardship Committee.

In addition to the time they spent at board and committee meetings, they both maintained very busy school schedules.

At Oak Ridge High School, Aditya is an officer of the International Relations Club. He attended the North American Invitational Model United Nations in Washington D.C., in February and received an outstanding delegate award.

He was a member of the high school marching band, and he worked at Jefferson Middle School library helping with the school’s chess club.

Aditya has also been the student representative the last two years on the Oak Ridge Environmental Quality Advisory Board.

He plans to attend either Georgetown University or George Washington University and major in international relations/foreign policy.

“My time as part of ORSSAB has been a really informative experience and has given me a chance to see how an advisory board functions,” said Aditya. “This is especially valuable for me as I plan to pursue a career in governmental and foreign policy making.”

Claire participates in a number of clubs at Hardin Valley Academy, including the National Honor Society, Red Cross Club, UNICEF, Talons Mentoring, powderpuff football, and the swim team.
Her Senior Portfolio was a semester-long internship and research paper at the University of Tennessee Medical Center Vascular Research Lab. Her paper was on the consequences of animal testing.
She had a rigorous class schedule of advanced placement classes, dual enrollment and honors classes.

She hasn’t decided on a college, but is considering Purdue, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Tennessee, or Wake Forest.

“I’m honored to have been able to be a student representative on such an important and friendly board,” said Claire.

Two new students will be selected from Oak Ridge High and Hardin Valley to be the next set of student representatives. This will be the 17th year of ORSSAB’s student representative program.

ORSSAB meets the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. at the DOE Information Center in the Office of Science and Technical Information, 1 Science.gov Way on the east side of Oak Ridge, fronting the 100 block of Oak Ridge Turnpike. Additional information about the board is available on the internet at www.energy.gov/orssab or by calling (865) 241-4583 or 241-4584.