My name is Unoma and I am currently a Junior at King George High school. I have been involved in Y Street for 2 years and this is my first year on the Y Street Leadership Team. One of my greatest achievements as a student at King George was witnessing our school’s tobacco policy becoming comprehensive with the help of the 24/7 Campaign. The 24/7 Campaign aims to prevent any tobacco use within school activities. This policy is strictly enforced to everyone, anywhere on school campus, or at off-campus school sponsored events. Having a tobacco-free school policy allows all school environments to stay safe and well respected. Overtime I have seen a prolific amount of environmental changes that not only benefits the school, but the students. A few months ago my school principal announced that the overall academic level has increased dramatically. Students were passing their SOLs, participating in clubs, school activities, and representing the KGHS life as one big family. Seeing all these modifications in our school helped me to be a proud representative of Y Street.
Schools in divisions with 100% comprehensive tobacco policies have the opportunity to celebrate Tobacco-Free Spirit Day. Tobacco-Free Spirit Day is a fun, informational day held for students, staff, and visitors.This day allowed everyone to get involved and gain a better understanding of what it meant to be a tobacco-free school. I was able to interact with students and inform them of what it meant to be 100% comprehensive at our school. A question that was frequently asked regarded how are school was impacted from being 100% comprehensive. I responded by saying , “Maintaining a healthy environment provides the best for students at our school.” Tobacco-Free Spirit Day was truly a memorable day for me,I witnessed a huge change in our community.
If someone were to ask me, “Why is it important for your school and community to be tobacco free?” my response would be relentless. Having a tobacco-free school and community guarantees safety for everyone, it offers the best academic increase for students, and allows them to focus in class. Students deserve every aspect of building their academic achievement. Being apart of Y Street allowed me to share my thoughts on maintaining a safer community and impacting lives for the public. Say NO to tobacco products and say YES to enriching lives in our community!