Hi, my name is Lupita Hernandez and I go by she/they pronouns. I am going to be an 11th grader in August at Espanola Valley High School and this is my first year of being an Evolver. I have decided to become part of the Leadership Team back in May and I thought “this is my chance at doing something kind of big that’ll help change something I hate, which is tobacco.” And so I applied and got accepted to the Leadership Team and to attend a virtual summit. As of right now that I’m writing this, I’m about to attend my 2nd day of summit but let’s push that aside to talk about my experience so far in Evolvement. 

           So, what I can fully remember doing for Evolvement is probably what most Evolvers remember doing is their training day. I first heard of Evolvement through a presentation shown by one of the YFOs, Amanda, who came into my geometry class one day around the end of November. A lot of people signed up for training alongside me, cause we thought it was a way to escape our morning classes for something fun plus we get lunch from a restaurant. And to our surprise, it was. But of course, through the freebies and free Subway subs and chips, we learned a lot more about tobacco and how harmful it truly is.

          Evolvement is important to me because I want to make a small change for the good of the future. A lot of people in my community and people I’m close to use tobacco everyday. With me as an Evolver, I’d like to make tobacco use a thing of the past so people’s lives aren’t cut shorter and so kids don’t have to live with bad health.  It’s very impactful to see people you used to be friends with in elementary school or middle school and just see them get suspended or expelled for going into the bathroom to smoke, but the problem has expanded from the bathrooms to classrooms and buses. It’s not good to see peers just throw their lives away by smoking. So that’s why I decided to stand up and participate in something I know will change everyone’s destinies for the future.