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

My name is Reuben L. I am a senior at Colonial Forge High School. This is my first year
as a member of Y Street. So far this year, I was able to reach out to multiple students
about the importance of tobacco-free public spaces through the Share The Air
campaign. I believe that everyone should have a public space that is free from harmful
products. Second-hand smoking is a lot worse than smoking, in my opinion. Being able
to participate in a movement that makes a difference in my community means a lot to
me.

Virginia Healthy Youth Day was held in Richmond, the state capital. I came to this event
with high expectations and it is safe to say that I left no stones unturned. I walked into a
room filled with Y-Sters who had so much love for their communities. I saw myself in
each and every one of them. We all had this enormous connection that is truly
unexplainable. Spending a day with people who share similar interests was absolutely
amazing. Through this event, I was able to interact with some very influential people.
Never in my life would I have dreamt about having breakfast with delegates and
senators. We talked about life after high school and I also got great advice from people I
aspire to be like in the future. The whole day was surreal! For once I regret being a
senior because that means I only get to participate this year. Even though this is sad, it
has taught me to cherish the moments I have in front of me right now.

I have always wanted to be a catalyst for change. I have always wanted to be a part of a
movement greater than myself. Joining Y Street was the best decision I have ever
made! It has given me this amazing opportunity to positively affect my community. The
future is bright as a Y-Ster because, with every step we take, we embark on a journey to
be catalysts of change, making a difference every step of the way.

Hey! It’s Ashlyn C and Abbey T, seniors at Charlottesville High School. We have both been a part of Y Street for two years. As Y Street activists and leadership team members, through the Rev Your Bev campaign, we have made a commitment with the nutrition director and the principal of our school to have a hydration station available to students and staff at least once a week.
This campaign is important to me, Ashlyn, because growing up, my family was not always the healthiest. I grew up around plenty of junk food and sugary drinks. My dad has always been my role model, so when he started changing his eating habits, to better himself and his family, I followed him. He also pushed me to do more sports, so as a student-athlete, it is crucial that I stay hydrated, not only to perform well on the field but to do well in school.

Rev Your Bev is a campaign that really hits close to home for me, Abbey, as well. I remember learning about it for the first time and immediately being engaged in its mission. I was really excited to get involved and I was already brainstorming ideas of events and things I could plan with other Y-Sters before the meeting had ended. Rev Your Bev is important to me because I’ve seen multiple members of my family struggle with health issues such as heart attacks and diabetes. It’s been really difficult seeing my loved ones deal with these issues so I made a promise to myself to be healthier. I drink water every single day and there’s nothing that I enjoy more.

On February 3, we were able to sit down with our school division’s nutritional director, Mr. Carlton Jones. Last year he met with us about our Great Starts with Breakfast campaign and he was a great help. We were very appreciative of him sitting down to meet with us again, and he was very accommodating for this year’s Rev Your Bev campaign. He signed a pledge saying that we will be able to set up our hydration stations in our cafeteria at least once per week, but has instead decided to allow us to have them in place every single day of the week. I, Abbey, am overwhelmingly grateful for his support because not only will I be able to drink refreshing and good-tasting water even after I run out of water that I’ve brought from home, but so will my peers. It’s especially good for students that don’t have access to water at home.

On February 6, we hosted an event, in which we gave out water bottles to our classmates and allowed them to decorate the water bottles with stickers, washi tape, markers, etc. This event was held in the cafeteria during our two lunches. This was also the kickoff event for our new hydration station that would be placed in our cafeteria. We had about 13 Y Street youth helping with this event. I, Ashlyn, believe a lot of students were very excited about this event. It was something new, different, and caught a lot of people’s interest. Many students were interested in the hydration station we just had put in place, which encouraged them to try the new and flavored water at our school. And throughout the week since the event, I, Abbey, have seen students go and refill said water bottles using the hydration station, and it’s something that I’ve heard students chatting about.

We think youth activism is important because society has put in our heads that we, as teenagers, can’t make a change because we “don’t know what we are talking about.” Many young people don’t like listening to adults, as it makes them feel insignificant. Interacting with the students at our school allows us to introduce them to something they may not have heard of and educate them on the importance of drinking water on a connected level. Many teenagers drink coffee to stay focused (guilty as charged with younger me! – Ashlyn), but changing that coffee to water has changed my whole focus in school.

Y Street allows us to share our message on the scale as large as the entire state of Virginia. Along with Charlottesville High, there are 21 other schools that are working on the same campaigns, which makes us that much more mission-oriented as a youth. Y Street also gives us the opportunity to create life-long connections with other youth who have the same mindset and drive as us. Our role in our high school is so important. Within the first six months of the 2019-2020 school year, we were able to give every student the chance to be hydrated and excited about drinking water, and that was a huge win for us!

My name is Ruthie and I am a junior at Giles High School. I have been in Y Street for three years with two years of Leadership Team experience. While working with Y Street I have spent a lot of time learning about the effects of tobacco and e-cigarette products. I have worked with my school and Y Street to educate youth and the community about these effects.

The FDA has been studying the number of minors using tobacco and e-cigarette products. After years of seeing the number of youth using cigarettes become smaller, the number of teens using other tobacco products and e-cigarettes has risen significantly. This change has been caused by the recent outbreak of products such as JUUL. E-cigarettes have been marketed to minors with flavorings and the untrue notion that these products are “safer” than other tobacco products like cigarettes. This has created an overwhelmingly large, new generation of nicotine addicts.

Recently, the FDA has been working to ban these products from the market. I have seen first hand the effects of these products in my school and community. I think the ban is necessary. People have been told by these vaping companies that their products are safer and healthier, so if the FDA came out with a ban on these products and evidence that people cannot ignore supporting their ban, it can make a positive change in the use of vaping products in the country.

While in Y Street, I have worked with my school’s administration and my peers to combat the rising number of teens using tobacco in our school and community. We have spread awareness of this issue at community events, during school lunches, and even at the Virginia General Assembly. Youth voices have become so powerful in the past years, and are continuing to gain power. By using our voices to advocate for positive change, there are no limits to the success we can have in our missions.

Hello, my name is Cali. I’m a junior at Manchester High School. This will be my third year as a
Y Street member and my second year on the Leadership Team. As a Y Street activist, I have
worked on many campaigns including Rev Your Bev. Through the Rev Your Bev campaign I’ve
surveyed a numerous amount of people about their drinking water habits and informed them of
the benefits of drinking water. This campaign has always been important to me because my
parents have always kept sodas in the house and I grew up drinking primarily sugary drinks.
When I joined Y Street I had no idea how much sugar I was consuming through these drinks or
how these drinks even affected me. I have very little free time but the past couple of years I
have managed to make as much time for Rev Your Bev as possible because this campaign has
affected me in such a positive way. I want to help others be healthy and drink more water too!

Manchester recently held an event on November 13, 2019, to participate in Rev Your Bev Day.
We had many Y-Sters from Manchester participate and collected over 200 surveys. The event
was so positive and very enjoyable to participate in. People were ecstatic about the fruit-infused
water and this motivated them to fill out the surveys. During the event, a freshman that I had
never met before came up to the table out of curiosity. The freshman was so interested in the
fruit-infused water and after he filled out the survey we discussed his drinking water habits. He
revealed to me that his family doesn’t really encourage him to drink water and sugary drinks are
a norm in his household. I was shocked because I had a similar experience growing up.
Stories like his are what keeps me motivated. His story confirmed for me that this is a more
serious problem than I originally thought.

Activism is a key part of changing behaviors in our community. With this particular campaign,
we encourage drinking water because sugary drinks have been linked to obesity and multiple
other health problems. Y-street is motivated to promoting a healthy Virginia and it starts in the
schools, as the youth are our future. With youth devoted to being healthy through drinking more
water, we can stop letting soda companies take advantage of us and risk our health. In the
future, Manchester’s Y Street club hopes to get everyone at Manchester drinking water through
fun events and activism. Eventually, we would like to make our dream of water being more
popular than soda come true.

Hello! I’m Olivia, a senior at Powhatan High School. This is my third year as a member of Y Street, and my first year on the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT). I feel very fortunate to have joined the organization when I did because the past few years have allowed me to witness some incredible social change firsthand! Through the 24/7 campaign, an initiative to help all schools in Virginia understand, adopt, implement, and enforce comprehensive tobacco-free policies, we were able to accomplish some incredible things. Thanks to this, I have seen the impact that activism can have on a school, community, and state-level.



I was thrilled to work on the 24/7 campaign when I heard about it because although Powhatan already had a comprehensive tobacco-free policy, including e-cigarettes, many students would still vape or smoke outside of school and even attempt to do it on campus. It was heartbreaking to see my classmates exposing themselves to such health risks but our partnership with Y Street helped change that. Through collecting surveys, holding school events, sharing information, and posting signage, Y-Sters at my school and across the state worked hard to educate our peers on the health issues associated with tobacco and e-cigarette use and advocate for tobacco-free policies in all Virginia schools. All of the hard work paid off! Earlier this year both Y Street and the state of Virginia had a massive win: bills SB 1295 and HB 2384 passed and became law. This means that schools in Virginia are now required to develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use and distribution of tobacco products and nicotine vapor products, as well as include it in their student code of conduct.



Now, school environments across the state have drastically changed and for the better. At my school, two of my fellow Y-Sters and I were even able to attend a meeting with our administration where we were shown data demonstrating that reports of vape usage had begun to decrease greatly. Students, staff, and visitors are now more aware of the policy than ever and know the consequences and health problems they may face if they use tobacco or nicotine vapor products. The new law has also required schools to include disciplinary action in their policies and provide resources for staff and students to overcome nicotine addiction. This way schools can enforce a positive, healthy environment and keep their students and staff protected from health problems. Not only that, it has sparked conversation all around – not just in schools – on the dangers of vaping and tobacco use potentially leading to more changes. As Y Street continues to promote tobacco-free environments we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Hello there, my name is Idayziah and I am a senior at Hopewell High School. This is my second​ year being a part of Y Street and my first year as a member of the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT). I got the opportunity to join Y Street last year. It was my school’s first year being a part of this amazing program. My school’s student council was ecstatic to start as I was too. This year was a bit different as we recruited at the beginning of the school year and had all diverse groups of people join us.

We hosted a training on November 12, 2019, the day before Rev Your Bev Day. At the start of training, we caught many of the trainees off guard with an impromptu photoshoot they had to take because it’s accustomed for us to take a headshot of new and returning members. As the chatter started to die down, YSLT members led the group into a fun ice-breaker called “Speed Friending” to get everyone warmed up and acquainted. From then on we got down to business! Our Youth Field Organizers, Lea and Mel, did an amazing job going over the issues that Y Street will tackle this year using numbers and visuals that intrigued the whole group. They helped explain the difference between equity and equality using a visual no one will forget. Mel and Lea went over in detail the Share The Air campaign and the Rev Your Bev campaign, respectively. They helped each new Y-Ster understand the goals of each campaign, the do’s and don’ts, and how we can help. Of course, all of this information could be tiring but Lea led us into a “Shakedown” exercise to get us all pumped up for more information before we went on to learn how to complete and collect the campaign surveys.

The training helped each of our recruited members to understand their duties as a Y-Ster and many were very excited to start. Rev Your Bev Day was the next day (Nov 13) and the new Y-Sters rocked out this event! The training helped me understand the viewpoint of the new members and how I could help them understand the opportunities they receive from participating in the program. Also, this training gave me and other returning Y-Sters a reminder on some of the things we value and advocate for in this program.

The training process is a critical part of understanding your role and what you are advocating for when you represent Y Street. It’s important to be in attendance so you know what you can do to help and most importantly have fun while doing service in your community. I am excited to be a Y-Ster for the 2019-2020 school year and I can’t wait to make a difference!