he Youth Advocates of the Year Awards honor top youth advocates from around the country -- youth who have fought hard to promote tobacco prevention legislation in their home states, to reduce tobacco marketing to kids in their communities and to stop their peers from using tobacco. The winners received their scholarships and grants at a gala in Washington, D.C. and celebrated with celebrities who support teen tobacco prevention efforts. The CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS provides a $5,000 scholarship for the national youth winner, $2,500 scholarships for each regional winner, and $1,500 for the international grant winner.

Tracy Ducar of the Women's World Cup served as Master of Ceremonies at this Year's Youth Advocates of the Year Awards.

Katherine Klem, National Winner, Louisville, KY, Sophomore
Parents: Mary Helen and Richard Klem

For Katherine, tobacco control hits too close to home. She lives in Louisville, KY, home of the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company. Katherine began her tobacco prevention work with an overwhelming task: to revitalize a statewide youth tobacco control movement that almost had disappeared in Kentucky.

This movement, for which Katherine is now the Statewide Youth Coordinator and Youth Spokesperson, is called Project START (Students Teaching Awareness Regarding Tobacco). With Katherine in the lead, Project START is proving itself to be more effective than ever.

This past November, she organized a smoke-free dining campaign in which Project START members called over 400 restaurants in Louisville to ask them to go smoke-free Katherine also coordinated a media event to publicize and celebrate the fact that 40 restaurants agreed to be smoke-free for the day. Three network television stations covered the event, allowing Project START’s message to educate a broader segment of the community about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Katherine also is advocating at the state level for a 44 cent increase in the state tobacco excise tax, which is currently the second lowest in the country at only three cents. In February, Katherine gathered 400 students from across Kentucky for a “Caravan to the Capitol.” Not only did Katherine coordinate a training day before the rally so the students would be prepared to meet with their legislators, she also led the rally on the Capitol’s front steps, accompanied by the First Lady of Kentucky and the seven state representatives that introduced this historic legislation. This event also received extensive media coverage across the state.

Katherine’s plans for the upcoming year include furthering youth advocacy among her peers at the national level. She already has begun writing a grant to fund a national tobacco control youth advocacy association. The association will be sponsored by Kentucky ACTION (Alliance to Control Tobacco In Our Neighborhoods). Katherine plans on holding the first annual conference in the summer of 2003.

Garretson T.A.T.U. (Teens Against Tobacco Use)
Garretson Public Schools #49-4, Garretson, South Dakota
Advisor: Julie Mueller
Student Representatives: Amanda Jacobson, Mandy Ellefson, Whitney Pitz, and Betsy Linneweber

Garretson T.A.T.U. members were instrumental in helping to pass a Clean Indoor Air bill in South Dakota, something the state legislature had defeated for years. To support the bill, a group of T.A.T.U. members traveled to the capitol to educate legislators about the dangers of secondhand smoke. Other members organized letter writing and e-mailing campaigns, wrote letters to the editor and worked with the media to cover their efforts. The Governor has since signed the bill into law, fulfilling a goal that has taken South Dakota tobacco control advocates over a decade to achieve.

Garretson T.A.T.U. also organized and ran a 25-mile relay run from Garretson to the Sioux Falls Regional Airport to raise awareness and support for a vote to make the airport smoke-free. The resultant ruling will create an enclosed smoking area that reduces the amount of secondhand smoke exposure to airport patrons.

To reduce smoking among youth, Garretson T.A.T.U. drafted and implemented a policy making all school grounds and facilities tobacco-free. In addition, they responded to their school's use of Philip Morris book covers by changing school policy to mandate that all promotional materials be reviewed and approved by the Drug and Alcohol Task team.

Terra Gearhart, International Grant Winner, Albuquerque, NM, Junior
Mom: Cynthia Serna

For the first time, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is presenting an award to recognize outstanding youth advocacy work at the international level. Terra Gearhart will receive a grant for her outstanding work in international tobacco control and will represent the Campaign at the European Conference on Tobacco or Health.

Since winning the Campaign’s South Region Youth Advocate of the Year Award last May, Terra has continued her advocacy work at the local, state and federal levels in the United States, and also has begun coordinating with international tobacco control advocates.

Last November, she won a scholarship to the National Conference on Tobacco or Health, where she met with international tobacco control advocates. She continues to work with these advocates to initiate a youth coalition in Uganda. She also is collaborating with advocates in England, the Czech Republic, Poland and Sri Lanka as she conducts research in preparation for her upcoming presentation at the European Conference on Tobacco or Health.

Cynthia Loesch, East Region Winner, Boston, MA, Junior
Dad: William Loesch

Since Cynthia received our Youth Advocates of the Year Award for the East Region for 2001-2002, she has been even more active in tobacco control efforts. This past summer she represented the Campaign at the annual Tar Wars conference and at our SmokeFree Soccer theme night with the Boston Breakers where she and goalkeeper Tracy Ducar conducted interviews with New England Cable News.

Cynthia has continued her work with Teens Against Tobacco in Boston. After helping to convince the Boston Globe to cancel a $1 million tobacco advertising contract and to stop taking tobacco ads all together, Cynthia is now leading Teens Against Tobacco in a new campaign to convince local pharmacies and supermarket chains to stop selling tobacco products.

Cynthia also has been active at the state level, helping to secure settlement money for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. During the last legislative session the program was threatened with cuts of $4 million and then $13 million. Cynthia helped turn the tables, and the program’s budget was allocated a $4 million increase.

Jacob Baime, South Region, Tampa, FL, Sophomore
Advisor: Susan Glickman

Jacob became interested in tobacco prevention after watching one of Florida’s truth commercials about the tobacco industry’s marketing to youth that made him angry. Since then, Jacob has been extremely active in SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco), Florida’s youth tobacco prevention movement that created the truth spots. He is currently serving as the Region 4 Representative on the SWAT State Executive Committee.

Jacob has demonstrated his strong leadership ability in various advocacy campaigns. He played an instrumental role in passing the Hillsborough County Tobacco Placement Ordinance. This county-wide policy mandates that tobacco products be sold as "clerk assisted" rather than self-serving, and prohibits tobacco advertisement placement below four feet from the ground (children's eye level). In addition to being a positive step for Hillsborough County, the ordinance set a precedent that many other Florida counties are following.

Jacob also worked with tobacco control advocates from major public health organizations when Florida’s tobacco prevention programs were threatened with extensive budget cuts. They took action at the state capitol, meeting with legislators, speaking to the media and ultimately preventing the cuts and ensuring the Florida Tobacco Control Programs’ survival.

Jaime Fiorucci-Hughes, Central Region, Louisburg, KS, Sophomore
Mom: Paula Fiorucci-Hughes

Jaime has been involved in TASK, Teens Against Smoking in Kansas, for the past three years. She is currently serving as a youth member of the State Executive Board. TASK has gone through massive changes this past year, and Jaime has worked as a member of the TASK Creative Team to develop a new identity for the program. She has helped to design a new mission statement, logo, web site and recruitment commercial that is now being broadcast throughout the state.

Jaime also has played an instrumental role in organizing TASK’s statewide van tours and STAR (Smoke-free Teens Are Rising) rallies. The van tours and rallies take place throughout Kansas to educate students and recruit youth members for TASK. Jamie has taught both high school and middle school students about tobacco control issues and changing local policy and plans to expand upon these efforts at upcoming Supernova Rallies throughout the state. These rallies will be designed specifically for elementary school students and Jaime will help to develop the curriculum and events as well actively promote them.

Tobacco control programming at Jaime’s own school has been funded through two grants that she helped write. She and her advisor worked closely to plan the details of the events and the curriculum for all students in grades 6-12.

Sarah Yamin, West Region, Ridgefield, WA, Junior
Parents: Jean maunder and Cyrus Yamin

Sarah began her anti-tobacco advocacy work as a founding member of BREATHE, a local youth tobacco control coalition. She has taken an active role in planning BREATHE’s events and in outreach to other youth. Sarah often serves as a spokesperson for BREATHE and recently addressed students at a rally at City Hall in Vancouver, WA, along with the mayor.

Sarah also is involved in state tobacco control efforts. She is one of only four youth members of the Washington State Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Implementation Advisory Committee. She also was selected as one of six youth for a statewide pilot program to teach young people about media literacy and tobacco. She and the other five students will coordinate lesson plans and facilitate workshops for high school students throughout Washington to demonstrate how the tobacco industry uses media to target teens and raise awareness about tobacco control issues.

In the coming year, Sarah plans to address community specific issues including tobacco-free public parks and a ban on smoking in bowling alleys.