News

Youth Leadership Rally At Columbus

Larkin Tackett, Staff Editor • May 15, 2025

The rally was held in Columbus at the John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons. The goal of this rally was to encourage teens to make healthy choices in their lives.

A few of Wadsworth High School’s students, Isabella Lewis, Jeremiah Workman and Emilee Taylor, went to Columbus for a three-hour-long youth leadership rally on May 2, 2025. The participants marched to the Senate House to talk to Senator Craig, as well as mental health professionals, in order to encourage teens to make healthy choices.

Jeremiah Workman created a poster to promote the abstinence of youth. He was one of the students from Wadsworth High School who participated in this rally through the CATS program. (Isabella Lewis)

The Concerned About Teen Success program did not run the motivational rally; they just attended and supported it. This program is student-run through the Agency-Alliance for Healthy Youth and has been in practice for over 40 years.

“We attended a youth rally that celebrated youth who choose to make healthy choices,” Beth Rasey, the director for 17 years of the CATS program, said.

The teens had signs that said messages like “mental health matters,” “stay abstinent” and “inspire change.” This was to promote healthy decisions among the youth.

“[The goal of the rally is] to show that the majority of youth are living drug-free lives,” Rasey said.

At the rally, the students sat through a couple of speeches, and then they went to walk around the Ohio State House.

“The goal of this program is to spread awareness to teenagers about a lot of different topics,” said Jeremiah Workman, a sophomore member of the CATS program for two years. “Some examples of the topics we talk about are self-care and esteem, drugs and alcohol use, abstinence, human trafficking and a lot more.”

In preparation for the rally, they did not prepare as a group, but more as individuals. They did whatever they needed to do to make sure that they were ready for the rally.

Many different programs came to this rally to celebrate the teens who make healthy choices. The rally was three hours long, and the CATS program rallied the whole time. (Isabella Lewis)

“We were told about a month in advance that there would be a day when the CATS program would go down to Columbus and participate in a rally,” Workman said. “There’s not a lot of

preparation besides telling the principals the days you will be missing and making sure that you have your work done.”

At the end of the walk, they had a speech about how the group is changing teenagers’ lives. The teens also go out and speak to peers about making healthy choices.

As Workman has been in the program for two years, he has experienced many events and experiences. He said that he enjoys meeting new people, learning new things, and getting to participate in these experiences.

“[The main goal of the program is] to educate peers about making healthy choices,” Rasey said.

After the rally, the group discussed getting together again to do more activities, like an awards banquet.

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About the Contributors

Larkin Tackett, In-depth Editor

Larkin Tackett is a junior at Wadsworth High School, and she has been on the Bruin staff for over two years. In her freshman year, she took the Newspaper/Yearbook I class, and by April, she was accepted to the staff. In her sophomore year, she was a staff writer, involved in each in-print issue, social media, and website. In her junior year, she is the In-Depth editor, involved in the in-print, online, and social media, while helping the staff writers and other editors write stories efficiently. For her senior year, she hopes that she will become the in-print editor-in-chief, hopefully with her friend Aaliyah as a co-chief and Noah as the online and social media editor-in-chief. Larkin’s favorite part of The Bruin is hanging out with the other staff and educating the public about new news. She loves collaborating with students with differing ideas from her own.

Isabella Lewis, Staff Writer

My name is Isabella Lewis, though I often go by Izi. I serve as a dedicated staff writer for the Wadsworth Bruin, where I have the opportunity to explore my passions for writing and photography. One of my greatest joys is capturing action shots. I have discovered that my writing fits best when I talk about topics related to entertainment, allowing me to connect with my audience on a deeper level. Throughout my career, I have had the pleasure of working on a variety of layout designs, but one of my standout pieces has been the layout from the story I wrote “Unwrap These Christmas Destinations.” This layout not only showcased my creativity but also allowed me to explore the enchanting aspects of the holiday season across various locations. Additionally, my favorite article I wrote and photographed is “Wadsworth Grizzlies Surge In Second Half To Defeat New Albany,” which captured a thrilling moment in sports and highlighted the resilience and determination of the team.