Gracie Castner, a senior at Eastern Hancock High School, has been named to the eight-member statewide VOICE Youth Ambassador program, a group of teens whose goal is to educate other teens on the importance of living a tobacco-free lifestyle.
HANCOCK COUNTY — Two county seniors have been named to the eight-member statewide VOICE Youth Ambassador program, a group of teens whose goal is to educate and advocate other teens to live a tobacco-free lifestyle.
Last week VOICE Indiana announced its cohort of statewide VOICE Youth Ambassadors for the 2022-23 school year and selected two Hancock County youth advocates — Brenna Bastin, a senior at New Palestine High School and Gracie Castner, a senior at Eastern Hancock High School.
The VOICE program is Indiana’s statewide youth empowerment group whose initiative is to engage, educate, and empower teens to promote and celebrate tobacco-free lifestyles. Their mission is to empower young people as leaders and advocates in their communities through sustained youth-adult partnerships, positive youth development and public health advocacy training.
“I really like to connect with people, and I think it’s amazing we will have the chance to use this platform to talk with others from all over the state about the dangers of tobacco,” Gracie said. “We will use our voice to advocate for what is good for teenagers.”
Gracie noted the advocates will have a great opportunity to bond with other teens throughout Indiana and build positive relationships that will help spread a positive approach to life.
Brenna attended the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in New Orleans this week with her mother, Brandee Bastin, who is Hancock Health’s Tobacco Initiative Coordinator.
“We are so honored that Brenna was permitted to attend as a VOICE Youth Ambassador from Indiana, and she will be attending the youth focused sessions all week, which allows me to attend a variety of other sessions covering many other areas,” Brandee Bastin said. “We are so excited about everything we will learn and be able to bring back to Hancock County and Indiana to share to make a positive difference.”
Brenna noted that while she’s been around anti-smoking information her whole life thanks to her mother, she has just as much passion against the use of tobacco and was honored to be selected as one of the VOICE Youth Ambassadors.
“This is a huge milestone for all the time I’ve been in VOICE,” Brenna said. “I’ve been in VOICE since I got into high school, but have been a part of it since I was born thanks to my mom.”
Brenna noted she and Gracie were both excited and grateful to be chosen to represent the county as two of eight advocates in the state.
“This is a chance to take the advocacy to the next level and being an ambassador will let us do that,” Brenna said.
The VOICE Indiana program has funded 24 counties and two Statewide Chapters (Indiana Black Expo & Indiana Latino Institute) and is represented by over 429 Core Team Leaders and Action Squad Members across the state.
The statewide VOICE Youth Ambassador program consists of youth ages 13-18 who have demonstrated leadership in celebrating tobacco-free lifestyles and fighting for health equity in their communities as active VOICE Core Team Leaders.
The Ambassadors are chosen annually as representatives of their local counties through a competitive application process. They receive training at the state level and participate in statewide activities throughout the year. They also serve as brand ambassadors for the statewide program and inform and design statewide campaigns and initiatives within the VOICE Indiana brand.
The youth are equipped with the tools, confidence and knowledge necessary to lead, innovate and implement a statewide movement for change, officials with VOICE said in a press release.
Through research, storytelling and advocacy efforts, the eight VOICE Youth Ambassadors are executing virtual activities to engage youth online for National Days of Action throughout the year. They design digital content for all the VOICE Indiana social media platforms and the official website https://voiceindiana.org/ and are instrumental in creating programs to build leadership skills
The VOICE Youth Ambassador Program was designed with the goal of cultivating a VOICE subculture that enables youth to lead and co-create safe spaces with adult allies where each are mutually learning, teaching and empowering one another in the pursuit of health equity and social justice within the tobacco control movement.
