At the Speak Hard Youth Conference, ACT Missouri and the Division of Behavioral Health honored some of our state’s most active and vocal prevention leaders. Each of them received a plaque and a Senate or House Courtesy Resolution at the ceremony in the Capitol’s Rotunda.
Joeley Clark
Morgan County C.L.E.A.R. (Community Leaders Educating About Resistance), Morgan County R-1
Joeley has been a member of Morgan County Tobacco Free Youth for 3 years. With the group, she has helped with various activities such as
Halloween in the Park, getting surveys completed, ordinance writing, attending city council meetings and Kick Butts activities. She was part of the Taking Down Tobacco pilot program. Joeley also works with Morgan County C.L.E.A.R. Coalition and has done several presentations throughout the community and her school on the dangers of second hand smoke.
Keiley Clark
Morgan County C.L.E.A.R. (Community Leaders Educating About Resistance), Morgan County R-1
Keiley is an active member of Morgan County Tobacco Free Youth. She was part of the Taking Down Tobacco pilot program. She has also worked with Morgan County C.L.E.A.R. on several community presentations on second hand smoke.
Mikayla Dierker
TryPOD-TREND, Grandview
Mikayla has participated in drug prevention programs since fifth grade with D.A.R.E. and the TREND Club at her school. She attended the Prevention Leadership Conference through the NCADA for 3 years as a participant and then as an intern for 3 years. She also attended the Teen Institute. Her passion for prevention has continued into her high school years becoming a member of the Jefferson County Drug Prevention Coalition’s Teen Advisory Board and a mentor to the TREND leaders at her elementary school. Mikayla is currently president of the TryPOD~TREND Club at her high school.
Brianna Fetz
Lee’s Summit CARES, Lee’s Summit West
Brianna, like the rest of our group, wants to encourage students to have healthy coping skills and find ways to bring more awareness for suicide prevention and reduce the stigma around mental health. We hope Brianna will continue to use her voice and gifts to keep her purpose and passion growing and help any community thrive. She has joined our Youth Mental Health and Wellness Task Force and volunteers her time for interviews, signs up for leadership roles within the group in order to bring successful student led activities to the City of Lee’s Summit.
Anya Jeffries
Youth With Vision, Park Hill South
Anya has served as Co-Chair for Youth With Vision for the past two years. She has been instrumental in identifying areas of need in our communities and developing campaigns and programs to address those areas. Over the years, she has attended Prevention Day at the Capitol, local prevention conferences, Northland Youth Leadership Summit, Juvenile Baseline, city council meetings for Clear Air and Tobacco 21, Bunco Mania and Mud Mania. Most recently, Anya developed a public service announcement to address the dangers of youth driving under the influence of marijuana.
Emma Latz
Youth With Vision, Kearney High Schoo
Over the past five years, Emma has been involved in all aspects of Youth With Vision (YWV). She has attended several Prevention Days, taking a lead role in the presentations to the legislators. She has also been a stable influence and played a major role in ensuring YWV is consistent in their actions to meet their mission and goals. She has attended several Northland Youth Leadership Summits, Northland Prevention Conferences, Juvenile Baselines, Mud Mania and Bunco. Emma’s dedication to Youth With Vision is matched by few others.
Jordyn Mays
Council for Drug Free Youth, Calvary Lutheran High School
Jordyn is an active member of Calvary’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) group. As such, she is involved in a number of activities, including the Safe and Sober program and the It Only Takes One campaign. She assisted with our Red Ribbon Week and our Suicide Prevention Week. Jordyn is a Missouri Youth and Adult Alliance Student Ambassador. She has participated in testifying at Prevention Day. Jordyn served as game night coordinator for our school’s SADD chapter. She coordinated the game night which was a joint effort between Calvary Lutheran High School and Helias Catholic High School. The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for an evening of safe fellowship for students from both schools.
Morgan Neal
Youth With Vision, Liberty North High School
Morgan currently serves as Co-Chair for Youth With Vision. She takes every opportunity to continue to learn, demonstrated by her attendance at ACT Missouri’s Prevention Conference the past two years and her attendance at the Northland Prevention Conference each year. Morgan developed Liberty North’s Trading Card program that identifies positive high school role-models and connects them with elementary and middle school students. The goal is to develop positive relationships and teach healthy behaviors and choices to the young students. Morgan was also instrumental in planning and implementing a week-long campaign named “How Full Is Your Cup”, aimed at reinforcing positive and healthy coping strategies and how to seek help when needed. Morgan developed a five-minute video on stress and coping that was played for the entire Liberty North High School student body and has been placed on Tri-County’s Encourage Hope and Health website for viewing. More importantly, her video is being made a permanent part of the “How Full Is Your Cup” campaign that will be given to over eighteen (18) school districts, representing over 50,000 students.
Brian Purkaple
Youth With Vision, Winnetonka High School
Brian is currently the Advocacy Chair for Youth With Vision (YWV) and is instrumental in identifying the priorities and needs for our coalition. He played an integral part in identifying the talking points for members as they met with legislators about the priorities of YWV. He has also become an essential part of his home school coalition, becoming the first student to ever attend meetings. Brian has also attended Prevention Day, NYLS, the Northland Prevention Conference, Mud Mania, Bunco Mania, and Juvenile Baseline.
Gage Shook
Youth With Vision, Lawson High School
As a member of Youth With Vision, Gage has attended Prevention Day, the Northland Youth Leadership Summit, Mud Mania, and Bunco. He has also presented at a Prevention Conference in Johnson County, KS, and is currently a co-chair for Cardinals in Action, his school coalition. Just recently, Gage coordinated a student presentation to Lawson’s City Council about the need to pass a Tobacco 21 Ordinance. Following that presentation, the council has indicated that it will approve the ordinance at their March meeting.
Emma Wiese
Lee’s Summit CARES, Lee’s Summit West
Emma regularly attends our Youth Advisory Board (YAB) meetings and recently joined our Youth Mental Health and Wellness Task Force. She brings an honest student perspective and helps us create programming and events based on that. Emma is a source of comfort for many of her friends and has gone out of her way to connect some friends with the resources they need. Emma joined a few other YAB members in a panel discussion with our community to discuss why students are stressed and healthy ways to help decrease stress.
Unless otherwise noted all photos taken by Chuck Daugherty, Director, ACT Missouri