Hello, my name is Katie W. and I am currently a Junior at Portales High School. This is my first year in Evolvement, but I have been very busy and involved this year. So far I have led an event at a play in my school’s auditorium, spoke at a school board meeting, and completed three principal meetings at different schools in the Portales Municipal Schools District. Overall, I have been very involved this year, and I am excited to continue with other Evolvement opportunities. 

The three principals I had the pleasure of meeting with were Principal Ontiveros at Portales High School, Principal Harris and Vice Principal Fowler at Portales Junior High School, and Assistant Principal Mitchell at James Elementary School. In these meetings I shared with the principals about the goal of the 24/7 campaign, which is to have every school campus be 100% tobacco free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The goal was to gain the support of the principals at these schools for the implementation of the 24/7 policy, so that we could use their support to persuade the board to adopt the policy as well. 

I first met with Principal Ontiveros at PHS. I have never been into trouble, so this was my first time being in my principal’s office, which was a little spooky at first. Mr. Ontiveros was very excited to hear what I had been working on with the Evolvement program, and he was super supportive of policy change for our school district. Next I met with Principal Harris and Vice Principal Fowler at PJHS. These two asked a lot more questions, but were very kind and ultimately supportive of this policy change. I was not able to meet with the principal or assistant principal at James Elementary in person, so I met with the assistant principal, Mrs. Mitchell via a phone call. She had looked into the links I sent her prior to the meeting with 24/7’s resources, and she was ready to support the campaign 100%. She is now communicating with her principal and even helped me get in contact with the principals from a couple of other schools as well! All of the principals were super excited to have a student coming to them to better the school district, and they all agreed to do what they can to make our campuses 100% tobacco-free 24/7. 

This was a very good experience for me because not only do I feel better about talking to adults in charge and advocating for my school, but I also feel that I am making a positive difference in the school district. Talking with principals in my district is just another step toward having the 24/7 policy implemented into my school district. This would help my fellow students who are struggling with problems of usage and addiction. I think the policy change can help students understand the dangers of tobacco use as well as help keep our campuses safe and clean. I hope that I am able to go to the next board meeting with full support of every principal in the school district that I am able to meet with. I also hope that our school board decides to adopt the 24/7 campaign’s policy.

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