2 minute read
EnrichMS
HUBERT WORLEY
BY D’AMBRAH WATTS AND HALI HOLLMAN (class of 2022)
Over the past two years we have both been working for a non profit group called EnrichMS where we work to educate youth on topics like vaping, drug use, and mental health awareness.
Our first big project with Enrich was the vaping summit hosted in February of 2020 at Jackson Prep. Jill Gordon, founder of Enrich, taught us how to talk to our peers about the dangers of vaping. Jill named us co-chairs for the youth leadership team made up of kids from all over the state of Mississippi, and we have had great success with this team! We divided up the social media platforms for Enrich and each led teams to make fun and educational content to post.
Our next big project was the virtual vaping summit partially funded by the Mississippi State Department of Health. We organized recording sessions with different panels to connect with the different people who would be watching. Our peer-to-peer panels consisted of youth leadership team members and high schoolers from around the state. They told stories of people they know who had medical problems due to vaping and discussed facts about big tobacco companies. There were personal story panels of people who lost loved ones to vaping. Jill filmed a panel with lawmakers and medical professionals to talk about the legal side of things. Filming this virtual summit helped with our public speaking skills and increased our knowledge about the dangers vaping brings to the table. It was a huge hit and can be watched on demand. We have also turned the summit into podcasts which you can find on our website at www.enrichms.org/summit.
The next step we took with Enrich was filming a curriculum for 5th grade students. The “Catch My Breath” curriculum will be played in classrooms for kids all over the state of Mississippi, and this year we had the honor of filming it with Jill.
The opportunity we have received from EnrichMS has been amazing! We have learned so much about how to talk to our peers about serious topics. We are working on our next steps for the upcoming year and cannot wait to see what is in store!
WATCH THE SUMMIT
RYAN SHERMAN
