Officials from EM and Ohio University recently joined a class at Ohio’s Western High School to celebrate the 11th cohort of students to complete an EM Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) Summary project.
As part of a grant administered by EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) — and in coordination with PPPO’s Portsmouth Site staff and contractors and Ohio University — the project assigns a group of science students to summarize the highly technical ASER to make it more concise and readable for the public.
“The ASER student summary is one of our most valuable outreach programs here,” said Jeremy Davis, PPPO’s acting Portsmouth Site lead. “At the end of the school year, these students often will have become some of the most knowledgeable stakeholders regarding site activities, monitoring and history. We appreciate every student who participated this year and hope they found this information valuable.”
Under the direction of Western High science teacher Andrew Delotell and Jacob White, senior executive in residence for education and evaluation at Ohio University, students learned about the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, environmental sampling and technical writing during their assignment.
During the 2021-2022 academic year, the students met with subject-matter experts from PPPO, prime cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth and Ohio University. They wrote six essays regarding Portsmouth Site activities to be published in the "Student Summary of the U.S. Department of Energy Portsmouth Annual Site Environmental Report," to be issued for stakeholders later this year. Students will also be credited as co-authors of the document.
The ASER student summary is produced annually in collaboration with Ohio University’s EM-supported PORTSfuture program. It is one of many successful educational outreach efforts at the Portsmouth Site.
Source: https://www.energy.gov/em/articles/ohio-students-gain-technical-writing-experience-through-office-environmental-management
