Describe why youth safety and health is important to you:
Growing up with a brother with autism, epilepsy and immunodeficiency, I always realized how lucky I was to have good health and the ability to make good decisions. My brother had so little control over major areas of his life, where I, on the other hand, was blessed with the opportunity to choose a lifestyle that would support a healthy, safe way of life. A month after I passed my drivers test, I was driving to school during a Minnesota deep freeze, the car in front of me slid into the car in front of it. I hit my brakes, but I was on black ice. The result was three totaled cars, and luckily no injuries. That morning I learned that sometimes you can’t control everything and everything you do affects those around you. Luckily, we had all made the conscious decisions to wear our seatbelts which is probably what kept us all safe.
What are you doing now to address youth safety and health concerns?
I currently am serving as Youth Advisor for SADD National’s Student Leadership Council, serve on NOYS Board of Directors and recently was a conference leader for the Take It Back movement.
What was college peer pressure like?
College peer pressure is different than high school peer pressure as it is not as direct. People don’t directly pressure you, it’s more the environment in general. Alcohol is more prevalent as are other destructive behaviors and they are generally just accepted.
Lessons learned and advice for current NOYS youth:
- Be prepared to hold true to your values.
- Have a plan for stress management.
- Be confident!
High school and college present equally good and bad opportunities and every student is going to face the challenges of both. Friends, who initially never drank previously to college, eventually began to experiment with alcohol. During midterms and finals, when the stress became high, more and more students began to drink and other destructive behaviors began to arise. By the end of the year, I witnessed good friends sink into depression and loose their self esteem. There were a lot of hard lessons learned. I was lucky because my roommate and I both did not drink. During stressful times, we worked out more, took planned breaks and scheduled outings. The thing is, you can deal with life and have fun without drinking. Trust me, no one cares that you’re not drinking, in fact, you might find that friends will actually respect you for holding true to who you are. |
