Over the summer, twelve VIPs (Very Important Partners) in conjunction with youth from surrounding counties, participated in the CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) Youth Retreat in LaGrange, KY. At that youth retreat, Graicey Greenwell, a Sophomore at Bullitt East High School, applied to be a youth trainer for CADCA. Of 35 applicants across the nation, Graicey was one of 12 students selected to become a CADCA youth trainer!
Her application provided general information about herself including where she was from, what coalition she was part of (Bullitt County Partners in Prevention), and her community service. She gave great detail in her advocacy work and why it is so important to her, and her essay reiterated why she is so involved and passionate about seeing a change in her community. Furthermore, she had to submit two different videos: one discussing strategies she will utilize to make Bullitt County a better community and one about her.
After being selected, Graicey attended a train-the-trainer conference in mid-November 2022 at the CADCA headquarters in Alexandria, Virgina. Other youth trainers from Indiana, North Carolina, Alaska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Peru were represented! Graicey established skills on how to be a trainer at future CADCA conferences and gained knowledge in many different areas such as the strategic prevention framework model and the 7 Cs of leadership (consciousness of self, congruence, commitment, common purpose, controversy with civility, collaboration, and citizenship). Graicey states that her goal is that, while she is a “stereotypical good student and rule follower,” other students will feel comfortable enough to come to her with issues.
One of her goals in Bullitt County is to create a help group for teenagers within the community. Becoming a trainer will provide Graicey the opportunity not to just train other students locally, but to educate youth around the world regarding all things substance use prevention related.