Two Stafford High Schools Receive Grants to Promote Healthy, Tobacco-Free Teens

Two Stafford high schools will receive $2,000 grants from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth to support chapters of the Y Street teen volunteer group which promotes healthy, tobacco-free lifestyles among the state’s youth.

Colonial Forge and North Stafford high are two of the 24 state-wide schools to receive a Y Street grant this year.

Y Street grants are awarded to local student organizations in Virginia for encouraging teens to become a part of the organization.

Y Street is a statewide association of high school youth advocates who work to create positive social change by educating community members about the benefits of healthy, active living and the detrimental effects of tobacco use, said a press release from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

Colonial Forge has had a Y Street chapter for two years. They also won a Y Street grant last year. They used last year’s grant money and will use some from this year’s grant to offer the “Save a Life” tour at the high school. The “Save a Life” program simulated the conditions of driving while distracted for tenth graders, shows graphic videos of reproduced car crashes and hosts personal talks about distracted driving.

Principal of Colonial Forge Mike Byers said catching students in tenth grade, the driver’s education year, is important.

“It’s pretty powerful from what students are saying,” he said.

Seventy-five percent of the distracted driving simulations the students took part in ended in fatalities.

Kathleen Mullenberg, who handled the grant application, said some of the money will also go to smaller projects throughout the school year including their women’s abuse prevention event.

By the end of November, each of the recipients will host a Y Street training event in their community, training at least 25 teens and one adult coordinator to become a working Y Street chapter.

In 2011 Y Street added 629 new teen members, who completed nearly 1,000 projects and volunteered more than 2,900 hours.

Here is the complete list of grant 2012/2013 grant recipients:

• Annandale High School Leadership Club (Annandale)

• Blacksburg High School DECA (Blacksburg)

• Clover Hill High School DECA (Midlothian)

• Colonial Forge High School FCCLA (Stafford)

• Eastern Montgomery High School FCCLA (Elliston)

• Franklin County High School FCCLA (Rocky Mount)

• Graham High School FBLA (Bluefield)

• Hopewell High School FBLA (Hopewell)

• James Madison High School FCCLA (Vienna)

• James River High School DECA (Midlothian)

• Kisura Mentoring (Richmond)

• Mt Vernon High School DECA/FBLA (Alexandria)

• North Stafford High School FCCLA(Stafford)

• Oscar Smith High School DECA (Chesapeake)

• Phoebus High School DECA (Hampton)

• Poquoson High School DECA (Poquoson)

• Powhatan High School FCCLA (Powhatan)

• Stuart High School MAX (Falls Church)

• Tabb High School DECA (Yorktown)

• Tallwood High School FBLA (Virginia Beach)

• Turner Ashby High School DECA (Bridgewater)

• The Youth Movement (Norfolk)

• William Fleming High School DECA (Roanoke)

• Woodrow Wilson High School FCCLA (Portsmouth)

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