This past week, Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a program of NPCC, held its fourth annual Hatfield Futures Camp and Showcase, a program that brings together youth from across the state to imagine the future of Oregon and to propose projects that could help their vision become a reality.
First established in 2023 as an experiment in youth engagement, the program has evolved into a week-long summer camp on Portland State University’s campus.
This year, 30 high school students formed eight teams. The students came from Cave Junction, Corvallis, Wallowa, Eugene, Albany, Gresham, Madras, Haines, Sandy, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Portland. Some teams knew each other coming into camp, while others met for the first time to form cross-regional teams based on their interests in similar topics. The projects included proposals related to the future of housing, mental health, plastics, school funding, immigrant and refugee rights, recreational programming, and rural transit.
Students spent the week learning about futures thinking, policy development, and change-making. They also met with topic-area experts from state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon Housing Authority, the Oregon Department of Education, and more; they visited the Oregon Historical Society to learn about the history of their topics in Oregon; and they flexed their creative muscles to generate innovative solutions.
The Wallowa High School team sitting at a wooden table at the Oregon Historical Society
The Restoration team chatting with their team guide at camp.
The 2026 Hatfield Futures students standing in front of the Oregon Historical Society.
The week ended in a culmination of all of their work: the Hatfield Futures Showcase. Held on July 11 at Hoffman Hall, all eight teams presented their visions for Oregon’s future in front of elected officials, community leaders, families, and staff.
Presentations were judged by three community leaders, including Mike Jung, Marta Tarantsey, and Abby Chroman, who scored presentations based on their futures thinking approach, their proposed strategies and interventions, and the quality of their presentation.
The 2026 Hatfield Futures Showcase
The Illinois Valley High School team presenting at the Showcase on their topic, "The Future of Oregon's Education."
The Future Forward team presenting at the Showcase on their topic, mental health.
The Showcase was also an opportunity for students to display their artistic talents, with students dancing, singing, and playing music.
The teams were also honored to have midday remarks from former Oregon Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum, who encouraged them to follow their interests and lead in their communities now. Attorney General Rosenblum also shared her experience in entering into a $700 million dollar settlement with the Monsanto Corporation for harm caused to Oregon and Oregonians by PCBs. The settlement was the largest pollution settlement in Oregon’s history and by far the largest Monsanto has paid out to address PCBs. That settlement was the learning case study that the students used as an example throughout the week.
From left to right: Mike Jung, Marta Tarantsey, former Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and Abby Chroman. Mike, Marta, and Abby were this years Showcase judges.
At the end of the Showcase, the judges declared a winning team and two runners-up. The runners-up included the Corvallis High School team for their presentation on rural transportation and the Illinois Valley High School team for their presentation on the future of education in Oregon. The judges awarded the Horizon Project, a cross-regional team made up of students from Madras, Eugene, Beaverton, and Portland, as the winning presentation with their focus on the future of homelessness in Oregon.
The 2026 Hatfield Futures Showcase winning teams. On the left is the winning team, The Horizon Project, and the two runner-up teams are on the right: the Corvallis team and the Illinois Valley team. In between the teams stands Wendy Willis, director of Oregon's Kitchen Table, and Marta Tarantsey, one of the judges.
The 2026 Hatfield Futures Showcase winners, the Horizon Project, standing with their certificates.
All of the 2026 Hatfield Futures students grouped together after the Showcase.
Hatfield Futures is one of several ways in which Oregon’s Kitchen Table provides Oregonians, including young Oregonians, opportunities to influence the decisions that affect their lives.