Hi, my name is Treasure. I am a senior at Stonewall High School, and this is my first year as a YAHL leadership member. I am here to tell you about how important and impactful a comprehensive school wellness policy can be.

First of all, YAHL stands for Youth Action for Health Leadership, and we work on two campaigns: CounterAct Tobacco and Elevate Student Health. With Elevate Student Health, we focus on making sure students have access to clean drinking water, nutritious food and physical activity. 

Mika, another YAHL Leadership Team member, went with me to both of our elementary and middle schools. We met with both principals in hopes of making a positive change for a healthier school environment. We met with both principals to talk about how kids aren't getting enough physical activity at school, especially in middle school. The principals were very supportive and suggested we talk to our school board members. We also collected surveys at our local middle school and found out that not all kids even know how to do a jumping jack. Specifically for our school district, we suggested that we can improve the health of our students by not only increasing the amount of physical activity we get each day but also changing the water filters and having healthy snack options at our concession stands.

We should care about improving kids' health and school policies because obesity is becoming a big problem in today's society. This can lead to further harm to our bodies. I see people in my school who are not living a healthy lifestyle, and this could be because they don't have healthy options at school or access to physical activity. One solution is to include more physical activity, water consumption and healthy eating in schools. If this is done at a young age, students can pick up healthy habits. I am hopeful I can work with my school and board members to update Stonewall’s policies this year.

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By: Treasure Carrell, Stonewall High School