SESAMM: Youth leadership development around eating smart and moving more

The Students Eating Smart And Moving More [SESAMM] Youth Summit held May 5-7, 2006 in Greensboro, NC, hosted 80 young people (ages 14-21) and their adult coaches for three days of activities and workshops. Studies show that young people need meaningful opportunities to participate, to lead, to contribute, both side-by-side with adults and on their own. The purpose of this Summit was to empower teams of youth and adults to work together in their local counties as advocates for healthy eating and physical activity. Summit workshops [Teen Adult Partnerships; Leadership; Advocacy: and Building Community Coalitions] were presented by peer educators, trained by 4-H's Teen-Reaching-Youth through Innovative Teams [TRY-IT] obesity-overweight initiative. Throughout the Summit, young people introduced speakers; facilitated group discussions and activities; contributed their own ideas both as participants and as featured speakers; interacted with a diverse group of their peers from across the state to exchange ideas and opinions about health and nutrition issues of importance to them; drafted projects that would address identified community nutrition and physical activity needs; and practiced invaluable planning skills. Sixteen of the nineteen summit teams have employed these skills receiving subsequent funding from the North Carolina Division of Public Health [NCDPH] to implement action plans for local projects. The Summit was sponsored by the NCDPH/Children and Youth Branch in collaboration with NCDPH/Nutrition Services Branch; Department of 4-H Youth Development at NC State University; Department of Public Instruction's Child Nutrition Services Section; NC Healthy Schools; and Northwest Area Health Education Center (AHEC).