Y Street ❘ Promoting a Healthy Virginia

Chesterfield County, VA – On May 9, 2023, the Chesterfield County school board voted to update its School Wellness Policy to ensure that all students within the division can practice healthy hydration behaviors while on campus. This updated policy was developed in collaboration with the Rev Your Bev campaign, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth’s (VFHY) healthy hydration campaign, and its statewide youth-led high school program Y Street.

Research has consistently proven that water is the healthiest beverage choice as it acts as fuel for your body. Since 2013, Rev Your Bev and Y Street have devoted and sustained efforts to spread healthy hydration messages to help individuals make drinking water a habit and improve Virginians’ overall health. Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS) updated wellness policy now aligns more with Rev Your Bev’s best practices, ensuring water is accessible in high-traffic areas, and that schools throughout the division are promoting healthy hydration behaviors.

Y Street members like Haley Flores, a high school junior at James River High School, are committed to supporting Virginia school divisions’ efforts to maintain a positive, healthy learning environment. Haley presented and spoke at school board meetings to encourage the division to consider adding Rev Your Bev’s language to their wellness policy to make it comprehensive. During public comment, Haley shared, “Hydration is vital to the success of students and can improve academic performance. As a student, I find it easier to concentrate and perform when I am adequately hydrated. For many students, schools are their only reliable source of meals and or possibly even drinkable water. That is why our goal is to increase the access, availability, and promotion of water in Virginia’s schools through comprehensive policy adoption.”

The impact of the updated policy is expected to increase students and staff’s water consumption and promote positive healthy hydration. CCPS joins the growing list of Rev Your Bev’s partners, becoming its 6th partner. CCPS will receive free resources such as water bottles as part of its partnership with Rev Your Bev to support the division in implementing its updated policy.

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