Hi, I’m Itzel from Arrowhead Park Early College High School also known as APECHS, and I’ve been part of Evolvement for 2 years now. My journey started with a simple desire to help prevent the use of nicotine and tobacco. That’s what drew me to Evolvement in the first place.
As a member of the leadership team, I play a role both in Evolvement and at my high school. One experience that really stands out is when l first attended the training, we went around collecting photo pledge cards to gather other young adults opinions on the topic of Tobacco and Nicotine. It taught me that leadership is deeply rooted in helping and caring for others. Seeing the impact we made on other people’s opinions showed us leaders why it’s important to hear other people out no matter the cause. Nicotine and tobacco have harmful effects , especially on young people today. That’s why it’s important to educate and prevent their use. Through being on the leadership team, I get to help my community be a more safe place.
The Evolvement training really is a great way to learn how to advocate for a safer place. You get to spend a few hours with the fun staff members and learn what opportunities you can participate in throughout the year and how those opportunities impact the state policies. I really do think it’s a cool opportunity to be able to work on something like policy change because that will impact the entire state. I’ve never had the opportunity to do something on such a big level like this.
Evolvement has been important to me because it has taught me a lot about tobacco and nicotine prevention and how to use my voice. I hope to continue to learn and help others. The experience has inspired me to work even harder for Evolvement this year , hoping to make an even bigger difference not just in my community but all around me.
