Hello! I am Ryan, a senior at JR Tucker High School in Henrico. I have been a member of Y Street for one year now, and I am excited to further my involvement and commitment as a member of the leadership team! For me, Y Street is not just a movement but a community, constantly reinventing both itself and the communities of Virginia. To be a good citizen and
advocate for public health, I believe it is important never to become complacent, and Y Street is anything but.

Y Street is a youth-led group spanning across Virginia that promotes and supports healthy behavior changes and legislation that will improve Virginians’ overall health. I was introduced to Y Street through a peer of mine, a leader in the movement at the time. Immediately I knew this was something I wanted to be affiliated and involved with. At their very core, Y Street team members strive to make Virginia a better place by leaving their mark, which stuck with me since the very beginning. From providing fruit-flavored water to students during lunch and promoting healthy hydration in schools as part of the Rev Your Bev initiative, to exhibiting at a local fair to promote tobacco-free outdoor spaces for our Share The Air campaign, Y-Sters at my school go above and beyond the call of duty to foster a culture of healthy living and coexistence.

Y Street has broadened my view by drawing my attention to issues I had not given thought to in the past, like making public spaces tobacco-free. From working on Share The Air, I’ve learned about the negative impact of tobacco advertising in low-income communities and the dangers of secondhand smoke. By joining Y Street, I can promise a great deal of personal development will come to pass. For those who are passionate about elevating their community, this organization will provide a means to that end. When it comes to the world we all share, there never is truly an end to progress; a fact Y Street members embrace wholeheartedly. Your voice matters and if you are motivated, Y Street will provide an opportunity to enhance and develop not only your community, but the state of Virginia as a whole.

Hey! My name is Riya and I am a senior at Fauquier High School in Warrenton. This is my second year in Y Street and my first year on the Y Street Leadership Team.

Fast food has consumed our lives as being an easy and affordable way to eat. It can be found almost everywhere with numerous options available. Although fast food can be delicious and cost-effective, it has affected our country detrimentally. High in calories, fat, salt, and sugar, consuming excessive fast food can lead to obesity and other health issues. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, there are more than 78 million obese people in the United States. 1 Therefore, obesity in America is a major health issue affecting people of all ages and incomes.

Obesity prevention is important because it can reduce health problems caused by obesity and ensure everyone gets a chance to live a healthy lifestyle. Why wait until it’s too late to act when we can start today?

Youth are at most risk, as data from the CDC shows that in 2015-2016 nearly 1 in 5 school-age children and young people aged 6 to 19 years in the United States have obesity. 2 This is partly due to youth’s lack of awareness. Some are not aware of the importance of eating healthy and exercising or drinking water, all of which can help them maintain a healthy weight. I want to help youth lead a healthier lifestyle because I was once an overweight child, clueless about the importance of good nutrition. My parents would let me eat whatever I wanted, until one day I looked at myself and realized I had to change my eating habits because no one will do that for me.

Youth activism is important in addressing the issue of obesity because we as youth have a greater influence among our own generation. Young people will listen and relate more to people similar to their age than adults. Y Street and its campaigns spread awareness on issues such as obesity by educating youth in fun and engaging ways. Virginians have been inspired by what Y Street has to say through our interactive activities in schools and at events around the community. You don’t want to be behind the scenes waiting for the change to happen, be a part of the action making it happen. To learn more about Y Street and its incredible purpose, visit ystreet.org or follow Y Street on social media.

1 Secretary, HHS Office of the. “Facts & Statistics.” HHS.gov, US Department of Health and Human Services, 26 Jan. 2017,
www.hhs.gov/fitness/resource-center/facts-and statistics/index.html#:~:text=Obesity,children%20and%20adolescents%20are%20obese.&text=Recent%20reports%20project%20that%20by, United%20States%20will%20be%20obese.
2 “Childhood Obesity Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 June 2019,
www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html.

Hey! My name is Ruth and I’m currently a junior at Giles High School. I have been a part of Y Street for two years and have been on the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT) for one year. Right now, we are all experiencing something we’ve never seen before. These are uncharted waters. Despite being worried about the future for schools, work, the economy, etc., I am trying my best to stay healthy and take care of myself during this time as I hope you are too!

Staying active is a great way to help yourself physically and mentally. Just because you can’t go to the gym doesn’t mean you can’t stay active!  For me, I love working out at home. There are a plethora of workout plans and videos online that you can do while at home to help you get inspired. You can also utilize any weights, workout machines, or swimming pool you may have at home to keep active. Do not feel like you have to do anything intense, something as simple as a safe walk around the neighborhood is great for your health.

This can be a stressful time for many people. School can be overwhelming with managing the workload and jobs can be very intense at this time with some people losing their jobs altogether. Mental health is extremely important and should not be overlooked. Please be sure to take care of yourself and do what you need to do to be okay. If you are able, check up on your friends with a phone call to make sure they are okay as well. We can’t see each other face to face, but we can still text, call, or FaceTime. Communication is vital during this time; do not neglect it!

I know it is easy to feel alone or stressed out during this time. Taking care of your physical and mental health is especially important now. Remember that we are all dealing with this together and we will persevere and come out stronger!

Hi, my name is Shawna. I am in the 11th grade at Granby High School, and this is my second year in Y Street. Rev Your Bev is a Y Street campaign that promotes healthy hydration. When school was still in session, RYB really championed for hydration among students, faculty, and staff. Now that schools are closed and it seems like we’ll be trapped in the house forever, we are working overtime to encourage everyone to drink water while at home. We have been trying to come up with creative ways for our Y-Sters to help keep themselves and their families hydrated. One way that I have personally been staying hydrated is by keeping fruit-infused water in the fridge. My favorite is one I’ve coined “Spring Breeze.”  Here is the easy, step by step recipe!

What you’ll need:

• 1 pineapple
• 1 carton of strawberries
• 1 carton of blueberries
• 1 lemon
• 1 gallon of water

Instructions: 

1. Peel the pineapple and cut into halves, then cut those halves into small chunks.
2. Cut the leaves off the strawberries and proceed to cut them into halves.
3. Fill a gallon size pitcher with water and add fruit. 
4. Let chill for 30 minutes.
5. Enjoy! 

For more recipes to help you and your family “jazz” up your water, please visit Rev Your Bev at RevYourBev.com

My name is Savannah Shaver and I am a youth activist with Y Street and a 2016-2017 member of the Y Street Leadership Team. As a member of Y Street, I have promoted a healthier Virginia by educating my peers and community members about the dangers of sugary drinks through the Rev Your Bev campaign and by meeting with my school board members to advocate for a comprehensive tobacco policy with the 24/7 campaign.

This July, I attended the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT) Summit, a week-long conference held in Richmond, VA. I, along with my fellow YSLT members, gained skills in public speaking, networking, and policy process. We had the opportunity to use our new skills by presenting our testimonies to one another and hosting a networking event. During this week, we also became experts on this year’s Y Street campaigns: Rev Your Bev, 24/7, Great Starts with Breakfast, and Fresh Spot. We also had the opportunity to volunteer at Tricycle Gardens, an urban garden, to learn more about the production and importance of healthy, accessible produce – the focus of our Fresh Spot Campaign. The summit also taught me a lot about event planning and team organization so I can take my new skills and knowledge back to my corner of Virginia and help lead it into becoming a healthier and more fruitful environment.

On behalf of my fellow YSLT members, I want to thank Y Street, The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, all of the attendees of our networking event, the American Heart Association, Tricycle Gardens, and everyone who gave their time and support to make this summit possible.

I could not be more honored and excited to be a part of the Y Street Leadership Team. Y Street is so important to me because it not only provides me with a chance to give back to my community, but because I can see it making a big change in my world. The summit was an unforgettable experience that connected me with Y-Sters who are just as passionate as I am. It gave me a new understanding of leadership that I will carry with me forever, specifically in the coming year of Y Street events. As a YSLT member, I hope to empower people in my school and community to not only make healthier choices, but to become more involved in the movement to promote a healthier Virginia!

2016-16 YSLT Members:

Rev Your Bev Day is important to me because my grandmother now deals with many health issues that can be linked to sugary drinks. I am spending time talking about these health concerns because I would like to make Virginia a healthier state and hope that by informing people of the unhealthy effects of sugary drinks, that they will reconsider what they put into their bodies.

Getting ready for my event in Richmond last year was fun and a little nerve-racking. A lot of the adults shared with us that they only drink water to stay healthy, which I thought was awesome. We also got many people who worked in the Office of the First Lady to come down and visit us. It was a very productive morning, and it ended with a visit from the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Bill Hazel. Then after lunch, we went to a elementary school and met up with the YMCA and Fit4Kids for an event with elementary-schoolers.

A lot of the kids were very surprised by what they learned. One kid told me that he was going to go home and “throw all his soda out the window cause now it’s just gross.” That little kid was only seven or eight, but he really gave me a good feeling because if he thought soda was gross now, then maybe he will stop drinking it and be healthier when he grows up.

Youth activism is important because without youth going out into their community and speaking up for what they believe in, you won’t be able to change the future. It shows that youth care about making sure our communities are healthy.

Sarah Chichester is a Sophomore at Skyline High School in Front Royal, Virginia and an active member of Y Street, a program of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

On May 14, 2014, I represented Y Street at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Rocky Mt, Virginia. The students participated in Rev Your Bev Day during their lunch period.

Overall, the kids had a very positive attitude. I remember a young girl at the event who was so shocked by the sugar cube display and how many sugar cubes were hiding in the beverages she loved. From the knowledge she gained at Rev Your Bev Day, she decided to drink fewer sugary drinks. This showed me that through Rev Your Bev, we are effectively sharing information about the harm of sugary beverages.

Rev Your Bev Day is so important to me because since I quit drinking sugary beverages, I feel so much better. From my own experience, I have noticed that caffeine and sugar had negative effects on my health.

I was initially interested in hosting a Rev Your Bev Day event because I am passionate about sharing knowledge to help influence Virginians to live a healthier lifestyle. I hope that through Rev Your Bev, I can share my own experience, as well as information to help change the way Virginians think about sugar beverages for the better.

Maggie Toms is a senior at Carlisle High School in Martinsville, Virginia and an active member of Y Street, a program of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

My name is Natalie M., I am a sophomore at James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia, and I have been a member of Y Street – Virginia’s biggest youth-led movement – for almost 2 years. During that time, I have collected public opinion surveys and support cards for the (dis)tasteful campaign with the goal of creating a world without flavored tobacco. I strongly believe in this campaign because I see the effect that flavored tobacco has on the people around me. I am hoping to raise awareness through this campaign in my community, especially with teens my age because they are the future of my community, but also they are the most likely to be influenced by these dangerous tobacco products.

I participated in the Reduce Tobacco Use Conference, a nationwide conference focused on tobacco use prevention, hosted in Washington, DC by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth on April 10. This year, Y Street presented the results of our (dis)tasteful survey for the first time nationwide. The report discusses how appealing people think these tobacco products are, the knowledge people have of flavored tobacco products, and the usage of flavored tobacco among Virginia residents. Y Street members collected more than 6,000 surveys from 142 cities all over Virginia.

Our findings were very interesting. And overwhelming majority of Virginians (86 percent) think flavored tobacco products are more appealing to youth that non-flavored tobacco products. Almost 7 out of 10 respondents (69 percent) support extending the current federal ban on flavored cigarettes to all tobacco products.

The (dis)tasteful Survey Report also contains important information about youth and flavored tobacco. Youth (respondents under the age of 18) overwhelmingly reported they were more likely to try flavored tobacco products than non-flavored tobacco products. Even youth who never even tried tobacco products reported being more likely to try a flavored tobacco product than a non-flavored product, which shows how appealing flavored tobacco is. When asked to compare flavored tobacco to non-flavored tobacco, 24% of current youth tobacco users and 25% of adult tobacco users responded that flavored tobacco is probably or definitely safer than regular tobacco. Also, 22% of youth tobacco users and adult tobacco users think that cigars and cigarillos are less harmful than cigarettes, and 42% of youth tobacco users think that hookah is less harmful than cigarettes.

All these results show how oblivious people are of the harm caused by flavored tobacco. Many people were shocked at the results of the survey. They did not realize just how appealing the wrapping and flavors of these tobacco products can be. They also didn’t realize how much these things could affect people’s choices. Many people were very excited to be able to ask me how we can help make more teens aware of the harms of flavored tobacco.

After the presentation, I helped my fellow Y Street members to raise support for (dis)tasteful and a world without flavored tobacco by asking conference attendees to fill out support cards for the campaign. I enjoyed collecting support cards and talking to people about the campaign because most people there were so interested to hear from a teenager about this important initiative. Additionally, I had the honor of meeting some very influential people, including the Surgeon General of the United States, Boris Lushniak, and FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director, Mitch Zeller. Getting the opportunity to meet Dr. Lushniak and Director Zeller was amazing. I shared my story and experiences working on the (dis)tasteful campaign with both of these individuals. They both showed great support and interest for the cause. As a youth activist this was really important for me to see.

Youth activism is very important to me because no one will understand the mind of a kid better than another kid. They motivate and inspire each other to do better or to do worse. Raising awareness is very important to me because I want to motivate my peers to do better. I want to see a healthier future for people and I want my peers to help my community create that. Also, showing adults that teens care about their health and causes like tobacco prevention makes adults want to invest in helping end this problem.

I will continue raising awareness about flavored tobacco through the (dis)tasteful campaign. I will keep using what I know about this important issue to communicate to my community why they should support a ban on flavored tobacco product

Natalie is a sophomore at James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia and an active member of Y Street, a program of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and blueberry – these words probably bring up a memory of the time when we would dress up in our scariest outfit and go door to door for Halloween in hopes of receiving a sweet treat. Even though sweet memories of stuffing your face with candy may come to mind, these flavors are also used in tobacco products. Tobacco companies are marketing and promoting smokeless tobacco products and smaller cigars, which look, taste, and are packaged like candy. Big tobacco is focusing their efforts on enticing youth in order to lock in their future “replacement smokers.” As youth activists, we must take notice of this problem and make a move for change.

(dis)tasteful is a campaign led by Y Street, Virginia’s largest youth-led activism movement. The campaign is letting Virginians know that tobacco in any flavor is addictive and toxic. Working together, we hope our movement will spread the word about why flavored non-cigarette tobacco products are dangerous, and build support for a world without flavored tobacco!

This summer, myself and a group of Y Street activists had the awesome opportunity to film an awareness video for the (dis)tasteful campaign. The experience was really great! First, we had a wonderful makeup artist make us beautiful for the camera. Next, we spent a ton of time rehearsing our lines together. We also got to spend some time getting to know each other – it was really fun to get to know other Y-Sters from all over the state.

When it was my turn to get in front of the camera, I was ready – or at least I thought I was! I guess I was a bit camera shy and it was kind of hard to read the cue cards without my glasses. But I finally managed to get through all my lines and have a great time! I got to meet new people, eat great food and experience something I’ve never done before and all in the name of tobacco prevention – a goal I am passionate about that made this experience great.

Angie is a student at Stafford High School and an active member of Y Street, a program of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth

On Thursday, April 11th, I rode up to Richmond on a train with a really cool Y-Ster named Katelyn. It was just like being in Harry Potter! We were heading to the 2013 Weight of the State conference where Katelyn and I, along with another Y-Ster named Lewis, were doing a presentation about Y Street and our ActOut campaign. With the help of some delicious Comida Mexicana for dinner, we rehearsed late into the night, making sure we knew the facts and could speak confidently about each of our sections of the presentation that we would give in front of 400 people.

The next morning, after a healthy breakfast, Miss Virginia opened for us and shared her story about importance of physical activity. Then we were up. All that good food we’d been eating was struggling to stay down in my stomach, but thankfully we all made it through our parts pretty flawlessly. In fact, the health professionals at the conference loved us! We were referred to on multiple occasions as “superhero rock stars,” and more importantly, we got a lot of positive support for Y Street’s Rev Your Bev Day initiative. So many people from around the state wanted to participate in Rev Your Bev Day, and find out more about Y Street and all the fun and important work we do to promote healthy lifestyles.

It was a great experience overall—not only to get the chance to present about Y Street and ActOut to these various health professionals, but also to meet and network with them. And the food–did I mention the food was good? I also really enjoyed the opportunity I had to meet and get to know Katelyn and Lewis, two Y-Sters I probably would have not met otherwise. Click here to check out pictures of all our fun!