Page 28 - The Scepter - Summer_Fall 2016

Local Student, Teen Cyan Simmons, Selected to Serve on
Keep America Beautiful Youth Advisory Council

Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading nonprofit which envisions a country where every community is a
clean, green and beautiful place to live, has selected Teen Cyan Simmons of Chicago, Illinois as one of 10 high
school students from across the country to serve on its fifth national Youth Advisory Council (YAC), which is
sponsored through the generous support of the Wrigley Company Foundation. Selections were based on a rigor-
ous application and interview process.

Teen Cyan, a senior, attends Jones College Prep in Chicago, IL where she is secretary of her graduating class. Cy-
an has been actively involved in the Girl Scouts of America since she started over 10 years ago, participating in
numerous local cleanup projects. In the 8th she led her school’s first recycling program, encouraging students to
start recycling around the school and home. Cyan has helped with gardening days at her neighborhood senior
living home and participated in beach cleanups. As president of her local Top Teens of America chapter, Cyan
has helped lead other teens in beautification projects in their area. Cyan strongly believes in giving back to her
community so she volunteers weekly at her local hospital. As founder and vice president of her school’s Young
Active Scholars club, Cyan and other students work to raise items to later be donated to local charities.

The YAC creates a national framework for youth engagement, building on the model of youth service with Keep
America Beautiful community-based affiliates. The newly-selected YAC members will provide an original point
of view in assessing Keep America Beautiful programs, implement local service projects, and will act as ambassa-
dors and leaders for youth service in their respective communities and states. Goals for 2016-2017 include raising
awareness and increasing participation in youth-oriented Keep America Beautiful Schools initiatives to end litter-
ing. Over the past two years, the Keep America Schools initiative has produced an average 34 percent decrease in
littering on participating school campuses, helping to significantly change littering behavior among elementary,
middle and high school students. The members of the 2016-2017 Youth Advisory Council class come from
across the nation.

Through the generous support of the Wrigley Company Foundation, Youth Advisory Council members will
meet with their counterparts from across the country via monthly conference calls and at Keep America Beauti-
ful’s National Conference in Washington, D.C., which takes place January 24-26, 2017. YAC members also will
be provided with grants to produce a community service project in their own community.

About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit,
Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their com-
munity environment. We envision a country where every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live.
Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end
littering, improve recycling, and beautify America’s communities. The organization is driven by the work and
passion of more than 600 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the
support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To learn how you can donate or
take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.

About the Wrigley Company Foundation
The mission of the Wrigley Company Foundation is to help improve the health of people and
our planet through sustainable initiatives, including those focused on environmental steward-
ship, as well as local needs that ensure a healthy community. Since its founding in 1987, the
Wrigley Company Foundation has donated more than $66 million USD to charitable organi-
zations improving lives around the world. For more information, visit www.wrigley.com and
www.mars.com.