Tessa Spivey
Writer

According to the Cam-
paign for Tobacco Free Kids,

one in five high schoolers in

Oklahoma report using e-
cigarettes, and according to

the State of Childhood Obe-
sity Initiative, 20.4% of 10 to

17 year olds in Oklahoma are
considered obese.
On Feb. 20 senior Kaylee
Davis and sophomore Tessa
Spivey spent their day at the
State Capital.
They were in attendance
with the Youth Action for
Health Leadership (YAHL)
leadership team.
YAHL is a youth-led health
initiative organization funded
by the Tobacco Settlement
Endowment Trust (TSET).
YAHL is working on
changing policies with their

two campaigns: Elevate Stu-
dent Health and CounterAct

Tobacco.
Elevate Student Health is
working to encourage schools

to update their wellness poli-
cies with YAHL’s compre-
hensive activity and nutrition

policies.
The main goal is to make
sure every student in the state
of Oklahoma has access to
nutritious and healthy foods,
increased physical activity
and access to clean drinking
water.
The other campaign is
CounterAct Tobacco, which
works to move the power out
of big tobacco’s hands and
into the hands of Oklahomans

through comprehensive to-
bacco retail licensing.

While Oklahoma has re-
tail licensing, it is only for

traditional cigarettes, not for
e-cigarettes or vapes, which
means retailers do not need a
licensing to sell e-cigarettes

and vapes. As a result, retail-
ers can sell to minors without

any repercussions.
With the support of state

legislators, YAHL is cur-
rently working on making big

changes in Oklahoma.

YAHL picked about 20 stu-
dents from all across the state

to attend Day at the Capital.

“I loved getting
to speak with
people who

were so enthu-
siastic to make

a change,” said
Davis.

This is Davis’s second year
in the program, and she has

made a tremendous differ-
ence, joining the Leadership

Team after her junior year.
“The people whom we
spoke to seemed genuinely
invested and even shocked
about the information that we
told them,” said Davis.

YAHL will continue work-
ing to improve the lives of

Oklahoma students for the
better one event at a time.