Hello! My name is Johnesse, and I attend Gadsden High School. I’ve been an active member of Evolvement for three years, and this is my first year on the leadership team. The No Minor Sale campaign focuses on advocacy work and educating the community about the illegal sale of nicotine products to minors. My goal as an Evolvement member is to reduce the amount of exposure that minors have to nicotine. We are able to inform students about the dangers of flavored nicotine products and the damage they cause to the body.

Earlier this year, we hosted a No Minor Sale event at one of our school’s basketball games. It all started with the training we completed earlier in the year. All the Evolvement members at our school voted on an event they thought would be nice to have, and we ended up choosing a Valentine’s Day themed table. For the setup, the campaign manager sent us a box filled with decorations and candy to have at our table. With the candy and all of the No Minor Sale swag, we were able to get the attention of students, parents, and staff. I, along with two other Evolvement members, went around asking people to fill out our support cards and explained why our campaign was important. Unfortunately, some people didn’t want to support the campaign or fill out a card, which was totally fine! We continued getting as many as we could. For the most part, people did cooperate with us and answered the questions.

Personally, I decided to get involved with No Minor Sale because I feel like older people shouldn’t be exposing easily influenced children to nicotine products. The marketing of flavored nicotine is targeted toward children and teens, which sparks curiosity and makes them want to try it. Addiction can lead to mood changes, withdrawals, and damage to the body, which isn’t something people should have to worry about. It is important to keep a healthy community because, at the end of the day, us younger people are the future of this country.

If New Mexico makes stricter laws about selling nicotine to minors, we could definitely avoid addiction and ruining our bodies. We can stop walking into school bathrooms that are hotboxed. We can stop feeling peer pressured into doing something we don’t feel comfortable with. That’s what makes smoking scary, because we don’t know every chemical or product that is in it. It is important to stay healthy, focused, and not lose ourselves.

As an Evolvement youth advocate, I haven’t just been able to advocate for a healthier future, I’ve also grown personally through this experience. One of the biggest skills I’ve improved is public speaking. I love talking to people, getting them to fill out surveys, and interacting with them about why this campaign matters. Being part of No Minor Sale is fun and professional, and it has helped me feel more confident using my voice. If you want to get involved and help support Evolvement and the No Minor Sale campaign, I would recommend signing up for a partner presentation or a local elected official meeting! Any support makes a big difference!

    Hello, my name is Diego Romero. I am a student at New Mexico State University and have been an adult volunteer with No Minor Sale for two years. Before No Minor Sale, I was a youth advocate on the leadership team with Evolvement for four years. No Minor Sale is a campaign working to reduce the illegal sale of nicotine products to minors. We do this through advocacy and education about how flavored nicotine products impact our community and the future of our world.

    One of the major things we are working toward is nicotine flavor restriction. Many people start using these products because they come in flavors that appeal to them. On October 28, I had the opportunity to speak with local officials at the Town of Mesilla Board of Trustees meeting to discuss this issue.

    During the meeting, I shared who we are, what we are doing, and what local elected officials can do to help us with our mission. Mesilla is a smaller town that cares deeply about its youth population, and the board members – Mayor Hernandez, Trustee Merrick, Trustee Nevarez, and Trustee Cadena – seemed to genuinely support our work. They asked whether we planned on speaking with legislators during the upcoming legislative session. We let them know that we attend Day at the Capitol every year to advocate for positive change in our state, and that we will do the same this year.

    We must continue speaking with our state legislators to encourage them to make changes and pass policies that protect youth. This is especially important to me because, as someone who has grown up around Mesilla and Las Cruces, I want my peers to have a healthy future. Our youth are the most important people we have. They are the ones who will carry forward everything we’ve learned, build on our progress, and create new ideas, innovations, and opportunities. But they can only do that if we protect them from the things that take those opportunities away.

    This town meeting is just one of many ways to get involved and help protect my community. I hope this experience encourages others to join No Minor Sale as volunteers, spread awareness, or partner with the campaign.

Hello! My name is Christeana Piancino, and I am a senior at Raton High School. This is my fourth year with Evolvement and my third year on the Leadership Team. With Evolvement, I have been working with No Minor Sale, which aims to restrict flavored vapes and tobacco products (including chew) from stores.

On the last weekend of August 2025, I helped out at our town’s annual Gate City Music Festival with my mother. On Friday, we helped a couple of people run a foam machine for the kids, and on Saturday, we sold Raton-opoly games (“Monopoly,” but based on our town of Raton, New Mexico). I was doing this for National Honor Society hours, and I also wanted a booth for No Minor Sale since most of the town would be there. I wasn’t feeling the best that weekend, but was still determined to get at least a couple of support cards. After this experience, I feel more confident about helping get vapes out of my school, and educating people I don’t know.

At the event, I ran into one of my middle school teachers, who once told me that even 4th and 5th graders use vapes! Without flavors, kids wouldn’t be getting addicted to vapes and could live happier, healthier lives. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, smoking was seen as cool and was even said to “open up your lungs” during the Vietnam War, and we’re seeing the effects of that now. Since I am currently the only Evolvement member in Raton, I’ve been working on my own with the generous help of my mom and the Evolvement team and I couldn’t be more grateful for each and every one of them. With their support – and the support of every Evolvement member – we’re getting one step closer to a brighter and healthier future for our world.