My name is Carys and I am a rising senior at Granby High School. This is my fourth year in Y Street and my third year on the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT). People often ask, “What do you do, what is it about, and how can I benefit from it?” On the YSLT, you get the opportunity to meet other youth that are concerned about the issues that Virginians face, and as a team, you learn how to help and become an advocate for change in your state. The YSLT has helped me overcome my biggest fear: public speaking.

As part of the YSLT, you receive many opportunities to use the voice you have developed. My most memorable experience was when I met with Virginia’s Senators and Delegates to talk about the 24/7 Tobacco-Free School policy.  We raised awareness about the importance of this policy at community events, during school lunches, and even at the Virginia General Assembly. Because we decided to take a stand and spread awareness about this issue, our tobacco-free policy was passed into law. This was huge for me because I’m just a regular girl from Norfolk who teamed up with other Y-Sters and ended up doing something so major and impactful.

While being part of the YSLT, I’ve learned how to be an awesome leader both in my school and in Y Street. Being on YSLT allows you to delegate and plan events for your school Y Street team, and the best part about it is you are never alone! Your other leadership team members are always there ready to lend a hand whenever needed. Y Street has been one of the best accomplishments in my high school career. Join the Y Street Leadership Team and you can also take part in the many opportunities the program has to offer. Applications are now open right now on my.ystreet.org!

My name is Reuben. I am a senior at Colonial Forge High School. This is my first year as a member of Y Street. Throughout my years in high school, I had a knack for sports. I played soccer and ran track. I chose to play sports because I believe sports teach real-life lessons that an individual might not experience until adulthood such as failures, discipline, and initiative. Playing sports is not always about the accolades and achievements, it’s about being a part of something that brings a sense of self-confidence while teaching real-life lessons. Sports are the greatest metaphor for life. Most of the time the game doesn’t go as planned, and just like life, you are faced with unforeseen events, and the way you deal with it is really what molds you. 

A huge part of being able to stay healthy to play the sport that I love is staying hydrated.  Staying hydrated is an essential part of athletes’ work, off the field, to stay healthy in order to perform at their best.  During practice and games, athletes’ heart rate increases a lot due to the strenuous exercises that they perform.  Water helps with blood circulation to their hearts and regulates blood pressure. In my sophomore year, I failed to understand the importance of staying hydrated. I played a game without drinking an adequate amount of water to stay hydrated and suffered the consequences by sustaining an injury that ended my season. It was heartbreaking, especially because I caused it. Staying hydrated reduces muscle fatigue, which reduces the risk of injury.  Once I made a plan to stay hydrated prior to and after games, I never sustained any more injuries throughout my years in high school. It is surprising how a small action like drinking water can have such a huge impact on an athlete. 

One of the goals of Rev Your Bev is to educate students like me to understand that water is really important. If I had understood the importance of hydrating, I would not have sustained my injury.  Athletes across the country find themselves in the same predicament, which is why I joined the Rev Your Bev campaign. I made it my personal goal to try to prevent other athletes from experiencing my pain. The Rev Your Bev campaign is really impacting change because for some people sports is all they have and without it, they feel empty. I am very glad to be a part of this movement to ensure that every athlete is hydrated and ready to perform at their best.

For more information on what the Rev Your Bev Campaign is doing to help students stay hydrated, please visit our website at RevYourBev.com. 

Hello Guys!  My name is Jerrin and I’m a senior at John Randolph Tucker High School in Richmond.  This is my second year in Y Street and my first year on the Y Street Leadership Team.  In continued celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, I want to talk about how our Share The Air campaign can help reduce litter that pollutes our environment.

Share The Air is calling for all Virginians in the commonwealth to stand up for clean and healthy outdoor places.  We want to create vapor-free and tobacco-free outdoor spaces to create new behavioral norms that promote health equity for all communities. Cigarette butts are the most common littered item. They’re everywhere. They’re 40% of all collected litter.  You can find them in public parks, sidewalks, roadsides, public beaches, and waterways, which makes Virginia’s outdoor spaces unattractive and unclean. Share The Air wants to bring attention to the detrimental environmental impact of cigarette litter.  Not only are humans breathing in the secondhand smoke and aerosol from cigarettes and e-cigarettes, but our wildlife and waterways are also suffering from the contamination of our natural resources.  Animals are at risk as they are eating the poisonous debris, while the butts and e-cigs are contaminating our waterways with heavy metals.

Share The Air is a huge step forward in reducing cigarette litter in our environment.  With its promotion of smoke-free, vapor-free, and tobacco-free parklands, the campaign will help keep Virginia beautiful and safe for children like my little brother RJ.  RJ loves playing in the park, however, one time he tried to eat a cigarette butt that he found playing in a sandbox. Ingesting cigarette litter like that butt in the sandbox poses a great risk to children.  Luckily, Share The Air is working to reduce the cigarette litter in our public spaces so all Virginians, like RJ, can enjoy clean, smoke-free outdoor spaces.

For more information about what Share The Air and youth like Jerrin are doing to help keep Virginia outdoor spaces clean, please visit our website at ShareTheAirVA.com.

My name is Precious. I am a senior at Potomac Senior High School.  I have been a member of Y Street for three years now and two years as part of the Y Street Leadership Team. As a member of Y Street, my school focuses on two major campaigns. One of our campaigns is called Rev Your Bev. As an activist for this campaign, I have worked with my campaign manager to influence the students at my school to increase their daily water intake. So far, my school has been very successful and the students have been quite open to the idea of drinking more water every day. This campaign is very important to me as someone who has had slight self-esteem issues with my skin and weight, water has been nothing but a major help. I believe in this campaign because I want my fellow peers to not just be healthier but also have the ability to build confidence and feel better about themselves. 

One of the major events my school hosted for the Rev Your Bev campaign was the Water Bottle Decorating Lunch. This was one of the best campaign events we held in our school thus far! We used our school’s cafeteria during lunch shifts to increase student participation and had members walk around the cafeteria, which helped grabbed more students’ attention. Our student body was very supportive of the movement and we collected many surveys. My peers enjoyed filling out the surveys and receiving a free water bottle, along with being able to decorate them with any stickers of their choice. The students at my school love to see a Y Street table at lunch and are always excited to ask questions. One girl mentioned how she never really got into drinking water and her skin was horrific but due to basketball, she started drinking more water and now her skin is acne-free. 

As a teen in high school, I realize that this is one of the most critical times in our lives. It felt nice informing students my age about the benefits of water and the alternatives. As a youth activist, I know what can persuade teens and know that advice coming from your friends is easier to take than the advice of a parent or another adult. Seeing the participation at the Water Bottle Decorating event helped me to see that I am not alone. There are many people my age who want to help change the community and world they are living in; they just need a slight push and the platform to do so. Y Street is that platform. Working with adults who want to create a better life for teens is a true blessing. Even while being at home during these times, I still plan to spread the word and encourage my peers to continue to drink more water.

For more information about what the Rev Your Bev Campaign and youth like Precious are doing to make water more accessible throughout the school day, please visit our website at RevYourBev.com