A new grant will create a visionary program designed to empower high school students to drive real change in their communities.
With funding from the National Communication Association’s 2026 Communication Pedagogy Grant , NAU associate professor Zhan Xu and professor of practice Janice Sweeter, along with collaboration from K. Hazel Kwon from Arizona State University and Young Eun Moon from the University of Mississippi, are developing an innovative curriculum to show teens how to harness artificial intelligence and social media as tools for advocacy.
Their goal is simple yet ambitious: equip young people with the knowledge and digital strategies they need to promote health, amplify marginalized voices and inspire action in underserved communities.
“The grant will allow us to create and test a university-based education program that equips all high school students, including those from Hispanic and historically underserved communities, with skills to use social media and generate AI tools for ethical and health-related advocacy,” Xu said. “We will provide a hands-on program, and students will learn about digital storytelling, audience targeting and AI-enhanced content creation.”
Xu is surveying 100 high school students to better understand their needs and what they would like to see included in the program, as well as to get information on how they use social media and AI. After the survey results are analyzed, the program will be designed and then implemented and evaluated in June as part of NAU’s Upward Bound Math and Science Summer Academy. The results will be presented at the National Communications Association conference in November. After that, the team will create an open-access toolkit to share with educators throughout the United States.
“I think students will gain valuable communication skills from persuasive messaging and digital storytelling and will better understand how to use AI tools for advocacy,” Xu said. “We know that a lot of high school students are already using AI for advocacy, whether it’s for mental health, environmental justice or health disparity. However, they often face an information gap, especially around health topics within their communities. We believe that this project can help reduce those health information inequities, giving them practical tools to advocate for the issues that matter to them and to their families.”
Xu said the students will learn how AI can help them brainstorm ideas, drop captions and translate messages, along with how to fact-check the information and edit everything AI produces.
“A key learning outcome is that an AI system is trained on existing data, which can include biases and stereotypes,” Xu said. “Students will compare AI-generated messages with credible health sources and discuss what is missing or can be improved. Then, they will improve the content using their own judgment and cultural knowledge. I want them to leave the program with both technical competence and ethical awareness. At the end of the program, they will launch their own health advocacy campaign to see how they can really impact their own communities and other youth.”
The program also aims to give students the opportunity to build confidence and prepare them for what is next after high school.
“As part of the NAU Transformation through Artificial Intelligence in Learning (TRAIL) program, I collaborated on researching strategic communication students’ attitudes toward AI in the classroom and found the results are a little murky,” Sweeter said. “There’s a lot of emotion around AI, and by giving students this outlet, this opportunity to practice and play with, we can help them get more comfortable with these tools as they are rapidly evolving and becoming so woven into everyone’s life.”
Sweeter said Xu’s proposed curriculum also may help teens overcome some of the anxiety they have about social media and AI by doing something that will have an impact on their community.
“AI is everywhere and growing by the second, especially in our dynamic industry,” Sweeter said. “We want Strategic Communication students to feel comfortable using this technology in their studies and as they prepare for their careers. We have integrated AI into our curriculum and are encouraging students to use it wisely, ethically and appropriately with crucial human oversight.”
Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu