Hello, My name is Brittany Romero. I am going to be a junior at Mora High School, and I am a freshman at Luna Community College. I have been in Evolvement for a year and this is gonna be my second year. I joined Evolvement to help not only my school and community, but  help others stay tobacco-free. What I have learned over this past year is to not take anything for granted. I know that sounds cheesy but Evolvement is about spreading awareness and stopping young people like myself, before they even start smoking.

 The Leadership Team Summit is great because they don’t just inform, but they make it fun and exciting to be a part of a group that cares about others. We have done 2 sessions for the Leadership Summit and I can’t wait to be in the next session. They have made getting to know the facts as a way to have fun. For example, the last session we had, we had to dress up for “Beach Vacay.” We were even given supplies so that we wouldn’t have trouble finding supplies for this meeting, along with snacks and toys to keep us from dying of boredom. But we don’t need the toys anyway as we have plenty of fun during the Summit. 

During the meeting we would go into separate meeting rooms so that everyone could meet, and talk. We would talk about 24/7 campaigns and No Minor Sale surveys. Each campaign has its own way of helping others. 24/7 is about “Making New Mexico Schools 100% Tobacco-Free.” 24/7 helps schools adopt our tobacco-free policy standards. They also provide supplies like: signs and kits, that help the schools spread word about 24/7. Thanks to the 24/7 Campaign Manager, Raquel Mooring and the youth evolvers, the policy has been adopted in many schools. The No Minor Sale campaign “aims to end the access to and illegal sale of tobacco products, including e-cigs, to minors in New Mexico.” Thanks to the No Minor Sale Campaign Manager, Michael Kelly and the youth evolvers, we have educated many people on the dangers of tobacco products across New Mexico. 

All in all, I would like to thank everyone for the amazing work they have done to help New Mexico stay tobacco free. They all represent Evolvement. A special thanks to Andrea for helping me my first year and Amanda for teaching me now and helping me get to know Evolvement even more. I have learned a lot and hope to learn even more. 

Hello, My name is Mia Rodriguez, I’m a recent graduate of Capital High School. I was in my sophomore year of high school when I joined Evolvement. In the summer before entering my senior year, I joined the Leadership Team. 

What makes a good leader? It’s being able to communicate with other teammates and being able to take charge any time. When you are listening to others on your team, it makes them feel comfortable that you as a leader know what you are doing. Not only that, but it shows that you’re willing to hear ideas from each member of the team and consider them. Having a person take charge when no one else does makes a good leader. It displays that whatever situation you are in you can easily take charge. Being in Evolvement made me take charge in principal meetings and No Minor Sale presentations. It made me more comfortable answering adults about what Evolvement is and how it can help.

Being a leader in the Evolvement program had an impact on me because I could see that I can be a leader and I can take charge of events and meetings. It also helped me improve in group work and advance in my AVID class. AVID is Advancement Via Individual Determination. This is a program that you can join in High School to get help with school work, college preparation and much more. In AVID you have to be a leader when working with others and be a leader at academic work. The leadership program in Evolvement has greatly impacted me by helping me grow into a better leader and it also taught me how to be a team player. 

Hello! My name is Tearza Valencia and I’m a Junior at Grants High School. I became a member of Evolvement just this year. Despite being new to the cause, I recently had the opportunity to speak with my state legislators during the Virtual Day of Action and I took it!

Events like the Virtual Day of Action give students like me a chance to go a step further as a changemaker. At events like this, we are allowed to express our concerns and have them taken seriously. It gives us a chance to speak with important people that can help us make a larger impact on the issue we are tackling. At this Virtual Day of Action, my team of fellow Evolvers and I discussed the dangers of tobacco with our state legislators. We also expressed our support for strong tobacco-free policies that could benefit everyone. Policies we advocated for included a ban on flavored tobacco products and an increase in tobacco-free schools. These policies would make communities safer and healthier. The issues prompting the desire for these policies are very apparent. Flavored tobacco products are more appealing to youth. This matters because 1 in 3 high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes. Another reason is that over 90% of nicotine addictions start before the user is 18 years of age. A flavor ban policy, as well as comprehensive tobacco-free school policies, could prevent nicotine addictions from even starting, thus preventing tobacco addictions as well.

Talking to legislators during the Virtual Day of Action felt empowering! Knowing my voice was heard and that I was taking steps to protect my generation was extremely rewarding. Working with Evolvement has taught me the importance of policy; it helps guide legislators to make great decisions for their communities. Other students getting involved in policy leads to more awareness and informed youth advocacy. Evolvement is filled with informed students and that is why our suggested policy changes are worth supporting.

My name is Kamorie Thomas and I go to Navajo Preparatory School and I have been in Evolvement for two years going into my third year. I joined Evolvement to be a part of making a difference in communities and doing something that can help change other people’s lives. Also to improve on my public speaking. The process of joining Evolvement was not that hard, it was easy. I have a few friends who are in Evolvement. I had a school advisor suggest I be involved in Evolvement and explained to me what they did and what they do. 

My first training was during my sophomore year. I was nervous during my first training because I only knew a little bit of the process but when I got the training it was fun! I didn’t really have any experience in public speaking and talking to people that I didn’t know but, I met some new people and heard their experiences. The training had different activities that were interactive which made the training more fun for me. Also to be able to listen to other people’s views and what they thought. My favorite activity during the training was watching the different videos about tobacco and being able to hear other people’s reaction and their thoughts of what they could do to help stop what they saw in those videos. As I did the activity we were split into different groups and assigned one video and watching those videos impacted me because kids were in these videos. The videos hit my soft spot – thinking about kids having access to tobacco products and thinking it’s candy would put them in danger. Those kids don’t know what those products are. That was one of my favorite activities, talking about what can be done and to prevent kids from accessing these products. 

From the experience I had, I had gained more knowledge of what Evolvement does and what they work with. I also learned more about tobacco and the statistics. From the training I have also benefited from sharing my thoughts and having more confidence in talking to many people in one room. For new Evolvement students that are going to the upcoming training should expect a warm welcome and friendly people and cool team members that are there to help. For the returning Evolvement students, keep having a fun time taking down tobacco and help the new students learn and help them be a part of something that will surely make a difference. 

My name is Cali Walker and I am a junior from Portales High in southeast New Mexico. This will be my third year with the Evolvement program and my second on the leadership team. Being a part of this program has allowed me to grow my skills in many areas, including my confidence levels. This confidence has allowed me to participate in many community awareness-building events with Evolvement. This past fall, I got the chance to represent the program at my town’s annual Peanut Valley Festival.   

At the festival, I worked alongside my peers in this program at a booth. Here, we had conversations with people as they passed though the event, about anti-tobacco policies. We stressed the importance of having strong such policies to not only ensure that all the effects of tobacco are understood, but to also keep tobacco products away and out of the hands of our youth. With the No Minor Sale campaign, our main goal was to push for New Mexico to require a tobacco retail license. This would mean that tobacco retailers in New Mexico would be required to apply for a license and upon approval, they then are able to legally to sell tobacco products at their stores. At the time of that event, there was no policy to enforce this, meaning it was harder to track where and by who tobacco was being sold. This made it near impossible to hold retailers accountable when tobacco is sold to minors.

More recently, on March 4th, 2020, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 131. This is other otherwise known as the Tobacco Products Act, which containsstate-wide Tobacco Retail Licensing, the policy that this campaign has been advocating for. This law will go into effect at the first of January this upcoming year. This law defines tobacco products as the following: cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff, e-cigarettes/ including Juuls.

Education is the most empowering tool you can possess. This policy passing is a huge win for New Mexico and it aims to promote awareness and the importance of knowledge. With the work I have done, this program has given me the resources and power to advocate for tobacco control and educate those around me. I have seen the positive impact getting involved and speaking out for policy changes has had on my peers and my community. These changes we are advocating for will go a far way for the betterment of our future.