Hello, I’m My Nguyen, and I’m a YAHL leader from Classen School of Advanced Studies (SAS). I joined YAHL as a community program I can be a part of, but as I continue participating in the program, it opened my eyes to how my school is lacking some healthy elements that can be changed.

The importance of physical activity and nutrition in my life is to balance out my unhealthy choices that I have made because of careless habits. I am overweight, and I want to lose the extra weight, so I can avoid certain health issues relating to possible future obesity that can ultimately be avoided. This can come from the fact that in my school, nutrition and physical activity is optional. For example, during lunch, the choice of fruits and veggies on my plate is up to me if I want to include them or not. Physical education is a one year required course, and one of the class requirements includes a 20 minute walk (equivalent to 1 mile), and sometimes specific exercises after the walk. Having a strong policy with Elevate Student Health would allow for people to start moving more in and out of school. With better nutrition, it will help not only me, but also many of my peers to not feel sluggish after eating the foods. I especially don’t enjoy the overwhelming amount of carbohydrates I eat from my school foods. 

After I joined YAHL, one of the events I did was a principal meeting with my great friend and YAHL leader, Carina Chen. Our former principal, Mr. Thomas, told us that one of his goals for our school was to replace all of the old water fountains with new ones that have an automatic water filler for the faculty and students. In my freshmen year, the presentation of fruits and veggies wasn’t very appealing, which pushed me away from adding them to my plate. However, in my sophomore year, I saw change... I could see the bright and fresh fruits and veggies that were arranged in a more eye-catching way, which encouraged me to take one or two to eat or save for later as snacks. The changes to policies because of the Elevate Student Health campaign will be a long-term success that the future generations will truly appreciate.

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By: My Nguyen, Classen SAS High School NE