Great Starts with Breakfast at the Childhood Obesity Conference

My name is Lyndsey Dillingham and I am writing this at the conclusion of my junior year. This upcoming school year will be my second year on YSLT and my third year in Y Street altogether. My passion for improving the health of our home state led me to participate in as many campaign events as possible, specifically Great Starts With Breakfast. Furthermore, being invited to update the Petersburg School Board policy to include technologically advanced tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes, opened my eyes to the difference I could make alongside other Y-Sters who have dedicated much of their time to one common interest: educating the people, networking in order to involve Key Decision Makers, and, overall, pushing for the improvements on obesity and tobacco issues.

The hard work I geared towards these campaigns and enthusiasm I expressed led to the opportunity of going to the 9th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference in San Diego, California. Morgan Swindall, a prominent YSLT member and great friend, and I traveled to San Diego with the outstanding Audrey Blute, hardly knowing what we would possibly say to allow others to relate to youth involvement in such widespread, award-winning organizations. So, once arrived at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, we immediately unpacked and beelined for the poster room, exploring the different organizations, motives, issues, and people. The California Endowment caught our eyes last minute before leaving, not only because they had free water bottles, but also because it was one of the organizations that was hosting the entire conference. They were attacking diabetes through sugary beverages and educating others on the effects on California communities, similar to our Rev Your Bev campaign here in Virginia. We were ecstatic to see people from all over displaying how they are contributing to the obesity epidemic running rampant in the United States. After that, we met the California Youth Advisory Board, the individuals who organized the 4-day event, practiced our lines for the GSWB presentation, and relaxed in order to prepare for the Youth Involvement session we were to participate in the following morning. The day of, we were honored to meet Henry, another member of our panel from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, who is practically an expert when it comes to educating others all over the country on the campaigns Y-Sters rigorously work on. The panel included two women from LA, one California Youth Advisory Board member, our introducer, Henry, Morgan, and me. Our session was approximately 50% presenting and 50% Q & A. When being questioned, we were able to go in depth in our involvement as youth and what we believed to be best when discussing how to communicate and get youth involved to begin with. We used the YSLT Summits, monthly calls, and easy access to hosting events as examples for those in want of engaging youth in their own organizations. We emphasized that allotting youth a greater responsibility in these campaigns allows for more widespread, impactful differences as we, the youth, leave feeling accomplished and proud of the work we leave behind for future members.

Neither Morgan nor I had ever been to the West Coast before, so that in itself was a phenomenal opportunity I never expected to have when I applied for the Leadership Team. Then, when we were exposed to the same passion and enthusiasm for change that we expressed back home, it opened up a new perspective for the issues we tackle. The same issues are being addressed, and our purpose was simply to grant several examples as to what they could do in their own communities, engaging youth, which would, in turn, engage our future.

1. Blog
2. Great Starts with Breakfast at the Childhood Obesity Conference