Health Youth Ambassadors 2024 Onboarding Retreat

Kentucky Youth Advocates is proud to announce our 2024-2025 Health Youth Ambassadors! These high school students from around the Commonwealth are eager to make positive changes in their communities and throughout the state. This year’s cohort of high school students includes two Freshman, four Sophomores, six Juniors, and three Seniors with representation from Boyle, Edmonson, Graves, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Shelby, Taylor, and Warren Counties.

The Health Youth Ambassadors (HYA) program is a statewide cohort that engages youth to learn about advocacy and policy, address social determinants of health through policy change, and advocate for themselves and their peers on health-related issues. Advocacy activities range from blog writing and social media outreach to meeting with legislators and testifying in legislative committee hearings in Frankfort.

KYA was eager to welcome the new cohort at our Onboarding Retreat in Bowling Green, Kentucky in August where we came together to learn more about policy advocacy, why health matters, the relevance of data, and – most importantly – to build connections with each other. We had 13 awesome advocates join us for this year’s retreat and we could not have had a better experience!

“This retreat was a dream! It was so amazing to meet peers like me, who shared the same drive and passion for the voices of kids. My peers were so understanding and open minded, definitely pushed everyone out of their comfort zones but made sure to include everyone in a way. I can’t wait to see our effect on our communities and possibly our whole state.” – Jeanette Akili

“From the second I walked in, I could tell this would be a welcoming experience. Working with the other advocates to learn what problems we had in our different communities and what we could do about them helped me to understand that even as teens we can always have an impact on our communities. This retreat has made me excited for what HYA will work together to make possible this year!!” – Lydia Bradley

“The Health Youth Ambassador Retreat was an experience I’ll never forget; the people, content, and community were outstanding and will continue to affect me going forward. I can’t wait to be back in March!” – Cayden Dunn