Anna Knoerle is a Senior at Morgan County R-1 in Versailles, MO. She has been a member of the Morgan County CLEAR coalition since eighth grade and was nominated by educators to attend the Speak Hard Youth Conference. She won a poster contest with her design, “Keep on jokin’, don’t start smokin’”. Anna joined the Morgan County Tobacco Free Youth; attending trainings for three years and the Youth Summit in 2016. She has presented at numerous events: an activity for the Tobacco Free Missouri Youth Council, prevention messages to my peers during National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, smoke free indoor air programs to middle school students, Head Start parents, and other community groups such as the Lions Club, and a workshop called “Youth Led School/Community Health Change” at the Missouri Coordinated School Health Conference. She is an officer in her school’s SADD and explains: “I want to be a youth ambassador because I want to be a leader towards my fellow classmates. I am strong on working with and for the good of the people. Drugs and alcohol use are a big problem at school and in my community. Youth Ambassadors are people I look up to and I aspire to be because they make one of the biggest impacts on adults and youth. I want to be a Youth Ambassador so I can help show the effects of drugs and alcohol for generations to come.”
