Over the past two years of working alongside and learning from inspiring nuclear disarmament leaders and activists, Teens4Disarmament gained one significant piece of advice to create a world free of nuclear weapons: The active involvement and engagement of the younger generation with this pressing issue. Starting this year, Teens4Disarmament created the official Westridge Teens4Disarmament and Non-proliferation Club at the school to promote nuclear disarmament participation among teenagers. After months of hard work, the club made the “Peace Forum” to gather students from across the campus and educate them about nuclear disarmament. With the phenomenal help from Ms. Masako Toki’s informative and empowering presentation, and the contribution of the students at Westridge, including their thoughtful questions and unwavering attention, Teens4Disarmament takes a huge step in their efforts to encourage younger people to believe and fight for nuclear disarmament.

For this event, we were especially honored to invite Ms. Masako Toki, our keynote speaker and empowered by her inspiring words. Ms. Toki discussed the importance of education for nuclear disarmament for the younger generation. Toki-san is a Senior Project Manager and Research Associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute in Monterey. Every year, Ms. Toki works to promote nuclear disarmament among the younger generation by coordinating the Critical Issues Forum (CIF), a program for teens from all around the world to discuss and learn more about the impacts of nuclear weapons. In Ms. Toki’s speech, she mentioned her objective to teach students “not what to think, but how to think critically.” She continued, “Young people are the ultimate force for change—we don’t have a short-term solution, so it will take your generation to continue this work.”

As a community, we must work together to further educate ourselves about the impacts of nuclear weapons and how we can promote world peace and safety. Thank you Ms. Toki for coming to your peace forum this year and thank you Westridge students for engaging in this activity.