Youth Pitch beginning

This post is intended to explore the proper approach to potential youth advocates. In order to persuade young people to enroll in my program of teaching advocacy I must appeal to their hope for a healthier future. Using rhetoric such as: "We all know we are against the obesity and heart problems and diabetes hurting young people, but what are we for? What do we hope to create for ourselves and future kids?" This way I will identify the positive and negative logical reasons for enrolling in a leadership project. More, the question will lead to conversation about possible solutions and a larger philosophical discussion of responsiblity and community work.

What is the purpose of school? Why do you come to this place everyday?

I hope that when you think about that question you realize you come to school to learn how to make good decisions. Not just decisions, but good ones.

Now, why do you eat food? Do you eat food to fill your stomach? Do you eat food to stay healthy? Or do you eat food cause it just tastes soooo good? I hope when you think about this question your answer is something like a healthy combination of all options.

The statistics do not lie:
"Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don't solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma." (http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity)

The question then becomes are we making good decisions with our food? In fact, the question is: are we making decisions that help or harm our health?

I want to take a minute to perform an experiment which will help us understand how our community helps us to be healthy. I want you all to close your eyes. I want you to imagine you are standing outside of your home. Are you there? Now, imagine you are walking to school. Slowly walk down the street and look at your neighborhood, look at where you live. Take your time. Look from side to side, what do you see? Corner stores? Gardens? Restaurants? Playgrounds? Please open your eyes.

The purpose of this experiment is to wrap our minds around our community and come to see whether it puts us in a position to help or harm our health. Is it easy to make good choices?

Now, please close your eyes once again. I want you to again imagine yourselves standing outside your home. This time as you walk to your school, you're going to notice some new places and things along the way.