Youth Leadership Institute

The Bloggers of Marshall QUUAD

yliblog — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:37:38 +0000

Jose Barajas, Senior – Hey!!! This is my second year with QUUAD and we’re already off to a great start. The new members are catching on real quick and earlier this year we even got to have a booth at Fall Fest where we gave out CANDY!! At Fall Fest we were able to educate a lot of our peers about the Social Norms Project. We showed the students the poster from last year and had our key chains from last year on display. Students were receptive and we felt that Fall Fest was a great success. We are looking forward to another successful year!

Izak Gonzalez, Senior – “The San Francisco Police Department is expanding an enforcement operation and education program focusing on underage alcohol possession, consumption, and intoxication in and around AT&T Park during baseball games. The enforcement operation will begin Friday, May 1st, and continue throughout the remainder of the season.

There will be an increased San Francisco Police presence inside and outside of the park during this enforcement campaign. There will be zero tolerance for violations of underage drinking laws and public intoxication.”

The statement above was made in 2009 and in my opinion I feel it made matters worse for a short period of time. Many teenagers don’t like to be told what to do and what not to do, especially without knowing why they’re being told. We begin to feel independence and want to make our own decisions. When certain restrictions are applied temptations are introduced. What we do here at QUUAD is definitely the right approach to make towards decreasing and eliminating underage drinking. Making positive, fun, and cool new ways to get our message across is surely changing the way Thurgood Marshall runs. The perceived norm that that drinking is cool is slowly but surely disappearing! As a member of peer resource and a youth leader for QUUAD, I believe that this program is a success so far and I want to offer an invitation to work together on a PSA, project or even a short film that can be shown at an assembly to help promote our cause. We are 87% sober and I want to work hard with QUUAD and reach that last 13% of our school who does engage in drinking so that we can show that teen are more productive than what most people perceive us to be.

Angela Matute, Junior – I believe that QUUAD is a good program. I haven’t been in it that long but so far I see the potential of this program and the good things that have come from QUUAD! For example, since last year we have seen a 5% decrease in underage drinking! Now that we have collected surveys we will be making presentations in Health classes as well as college and career classes that involve activities related to what we have learned from our surveys. We might even engage students in competitions! I think that we are doing a great job so far. I feel that the presentations we’ve had with staff and the wellness center went well and they’re starting to see that we are on top of our game and we will achieve our goal pretty soon. I was reading earlier about how teens who don’t have anyone to talk with about alcohol tend to experiment with it more often. We have learned over the last two years that students trust the adults in their lives, but most of them are not talking with them about alcohol! I hope that QUUAD will work to increase the amount that adults speak with youth about underage drinking and that we can create a space where students can ask us questions that they’re curious about. I am a member of the peer resources group here at Thurgood and would like to find a way for both groups of students to team up. Both groups are positive programs and offer a lot for this school!

Joseph Dela Cruz, Senior – Joining Q.U.U.A.D has become a great learning experience for me. From my past experiences of being in a program that is trying to create awareness in teens, this program uses an effective and unique method that helps create awareness compared to other programs. Q.U.U.A.D has a different approach to reduce the number of teens drinking alcohol at our school. Instead of telling teens the risks they take when they drink alcohol, we tell them the percentage of people that don’t drink which was 82%. We use this approach in hopes that we can use positive peer pressure to reduce underage drinking. This program is trying to show that most teens at our school don’t drink and make that a norm in order to reduce underage drinking at our school. Some of our past events that we did to spread the news was telling our peers the percentage of students that don’t drink in our Fall Fest event and we also presented to the teachers and staff at the PTSA meeting to tell them what we do, what our goals are, and asked for some suggestions to help us to spread the word. Being in Q.U.U.A.D is really fun, everyone’s cool especially the YLI staff member, Kristen Law, and it’s a pleasure to be working with them to reduce drinking at our school Thurgood Marshall.

Check us out on FB

New Law Prohibits Self-checkout Alcohol Sales in California

yliblog — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:37:25 +0000

On October 10, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill banning alcohol sales at self-serve checkout machines in California. Authored by Assembly Member Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Assembly Bill 183 passed the state legislature in September.

Concern has grown over the past few years around the dangers of alcohol sales at poorly monitored self-checkout registers. Recent research from UCLA and SDSU indicate that youth are often able to illegally purchase or steal alcohol at self-checkout machines. The SDSU study found that 8.4% of participants who looked 23 and younger were able to purchase alcohol at machines without having to produce ID. Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry, in San Diego, found that 70% of the time youth were able to “game” the machines by scanning a 6-pack of soda, but bagging a 6-pack of beer. In addition, inebriated legal-age drinkers are often able to illegally purchase alcohol at the machines, placing themselves and others at risk.

The passage of AB 183 comes a year after then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, AB 1060.

Visit Alcohol Justice (formerly Marin Institute) to learn more about this new law and research on alcohol sales at self-checkout registers.

First round of posters!!! Washington Px3

yliblog — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:14:11 +0000

GWHS students have their judgement!!! Now you know!!!

For more information check out our facebook page here!!!!

View this document on Scribd

Check out our first round of posters! Marshall QUUAD

yliblog — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:55:46 +0000

TMAHS students know what’s up and NOW YOU KNOW!!!

For more information and contacts please visit our facebook page here!!!

View this document on Scribd

Now Recruiting Interns to Join The Tobacco Use Reduction Force (TURF)!

yliblog — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:28:03 +0000

The Youth Leadership Institute is now recruiting Youth Advocate Interns for our Tobacco Use Reduction Force (TURF) Program! TURF is committed to protecting the city’s health by reducing the impact of tobacco across SF, especially marginalized communities. In partnership with youth leaders and community leaders, TURF mobilizes SF residents and advocates for changes in tobacco laws and regulations.

We’re looking for young people 16-24 who are interested in tobacco prevention, learning community organizing skills, as well as how to work on a policy campaign. It’s a 20-month commitment, they meet once a week, and get paid $2,400 for their participation.

Video Showcasing the TURF interns last year:

For More Info, Access the Flyer Here: Tobacco Use Reduction Force.FLYER

To Apply Online, Visit: www.tinyurl.com/applytoturf

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE TUESDAY, MARCH 1st!

*For any questions about the TURF Program, you can contact Catherine-Mercedes Judge at: cmjudge@yli.org or 415-836-9160 x245.

WHAT’S COMING UP! by Joanna Cai, GWHS Sophomore

yliblog — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:03:28 +0000

We, Washington Positive Peer Pressure (WPX3), as a group, have co-developed surveys and collected data from over 800 sophomores and juniors at our school. Now, we are working on the media and visual projects and are hoping to unveil our posters around school soon! We are making our posters in a variety of ways, hoping to stand out from the rest of the posters in school. It is competitive since there are lots of other clubs and programs putting out posters. We are posting some of our surprising facts from our peers. For example, we learned that 84% of students at Wash have not drank or hardly drank alcohol in the last year; however, ONLY 41% reported that they thought the same was true for other students. That means that students think that their peers drink much more than they actually do! We also learned that 89% of students have not drank or hardly ever drank before or during school. And, noticing that many teenagers now drive to school, it would be very dangerous if they drink and drive. Another surprising fact is that 79.1% of students have not driven while drinking in the last year!!! We are well on our way to reaching our goal, which is to reduce underage drinking and the serious consequences of drinking and driving through positive peer pressure!

Meet Marshall QU²AD! by Alfonso Martin, TMAHS sophomore

yliblog — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:18:39 +0000

Don’t know what Marshall QU²AD is? Well, Marshall QU²AD is a group of TMAHS students who are trying to spread awareness about under aged drinking. So far, we made surveys and compiled some data on the drinking habits of some of the students at TMAHS, mostly the sophomores and juniors. The results of the data showed that many of the students who took the survey didn’t drink or hardly ever drank but they assumed that other students were drinking. To spread our message we have come up with ideas for some media like posters or youtube videos to help get the point across at our school. Starting in the new year, Marshall QU²AD will put up some of the media and hopefully students will feel more comfortable not drinking. Keep following our blog!

Whats QUUAD have to do with me? By Jose Barajas, Junior TMAHS

yliblog — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:08:58 +0000

QUUAD is an interesting side of what really goes on at my school/community. I call it interesting because it challenges the perception of what people think. An example from a survey measuring underage use and perceptions of use was when I we learned that about 80% of the students who took the survey had only one drink or less in the last month. If you would’ve asked me to predict before the survey, I would have guess either a 50/50 split or at best 60/40, BUT 80%!! That was just one of the facts that surprised me and I can only imagine the different types of media that we could make using just this info. Without QUAAD, how would i know this information? I wouldn’t. Im glad that i joined QUAAD and hope to share our info with you all. Follow our blog and like our facebook page in order stay current with our progress and our survey findings!

Know the Truth! By Jasmine Burgos, TMAHS Junior

yliblog — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:42:09 +0000

Have you ever felt pressured to drink because you assume that everyone around you is doing it? Well, the key word to that question is ASSUME. It’s time for you to get your facts straight.
QUUAD (Questioning Unspoken Underage Drinking) is a group that was formed at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School (TMAHS) and our goal is to create a Social Norm Campaign that proves that not all teenagers drink. We recently collected data to back us up on this and you will be surprised in finding out that there’s actually more people that don’t drink than those that do. In fact, we found that more than 80% of sophomores and juniors at our school have not had a drink or drank rarely in the last 30 days! In the upcoming year we will be kicking off our campaign to spread the awareness of this issue through media and other sources. Keep up with us to see how we progress at TMAHS and what our results will turn out to be. It’s time to stop assuming and know the truth.

What does QUUAD mean to me? By Silvia Avalos, TMAHS Freshman

yliblog — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:33:10 +0000

To me, QUUAD is a group of Thurgood Marshall high school student trying to make a positive difference in our community! We are creating a positive social norms campaign to reduce or eliminate underage alcohol use at our school. We couldn’t do this alone! Kristen from YLI

comes every Thursday after school to help us with each of the phases of the campaign. Two weeks ago, on Thursday, she showed us how to analyze the data from our surveys and to identify and form messages to use in our campaign. Next year, when we go back to school, we’re going to be creating different media channels to get our messages out to students, school faculty and staff and parents. We have progressed so much from the first day and we’re going to get even better by the last day!!! Keep coming back to our blog to follow our progress!