Hello, I'm Laci Delancy. I am attending Sperry High School as a sophomore. I joined YAHL for the first time this year, but as soon as I did, I discovered that there weren't many healthy food alternatives available at our school and that there wasn't much time for physical activity. I am writing about why I care about physical activity and healthy foods.

Physical activity and healthy foods are critical to me because in order to be healthy you have to have a healthy community. I have been in Sperry Schools for 12 years and since I've been here there are only physical activities for the elementary and intermediate schools. When you get into middle school and high school there are no outside physical activities. Therefore that's when kids start getting overweight and unhealthy. The food this school has for us could be healthier. We have vending machines that have candy and chips in them. This has impacted my family in many ways. For example, my sister is overweight and it's hard for her to run because the school has vending machines and she gets something from them every day. The effects this policy could have if it were passed are healthier kids, more kids can play sports and not be tired as fast, it would be more beneficial for all the kids in this school.

Other people should care about this because this is impacting our world and communities. This will affect the world so much that people won't want to play sports because when they run it will be hard and they will be out of breath easily. We should all work together to improve this world by increasing the amount of time we spend exercising and the availability of nutritious foods in our schools. The world would become a better place when we start fighting for what's right. YAHL has taught me the importance of healthy kids and the impact this would have on this world if we had better food in this school and the community.

By Laci Delancy, YAHL Member at Sperry High School

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