Edison graduate honored as Youth Advocate of the Year
The Lake County Tobacco Prevention Coalition recently recognized members, community partners and youth advocates with the organization’s annual awards.
This year’s awards included the Bree Wilson Youth Advocate of the Year Award, which was presented by VOICE Indiana in partnership with the Healthy Hoosiers Foundation to Mieka Neely, a 2024 graduate of Thomas Edison Jr./Sr. High School in Lake Station. The award includes a $1,000 scholarship.
VOICE is Indiana’s statewide program led by teenagers who seek to engage, educate and empower peers to celebrate a tobacco- and vape-free lifestyle. The Lake County Tobacco Prevention Coalition oversees the Lake County VOICE team and is supported by the lead agencies of the Franciscan Health Foundation of Northern Indiana and Community Advocates for Northern Indiana.
Indiana and national tobacco control partners established the Bree Wilson Youth Advocate of the Year Award in memory of Breanna “Bree” Lynn Wilson who died in January 2021 at the age of 22 after a battle with brain cancer. Wilson was a VOICE Action Squad Member, National Youth Ambassador Award winner for the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids and Fellow for the TRUTH Initiative.
In honoring Wilson’s legacy, a VOICE Indiana Youth Ambassador or Core Team Leader is selected to receive the Bree Wilson Youth Advocate of the Year Award for their hard work, passion and commitment to pursuing health equity for all Hoosiers.
“Mieka is an amazing young woman who truly embodies and embraces the spirit of VOICE and the VOICE values of respect, healthy communication, teamwork, leadership, diversity and equity,” said Stacy London, statewide VOICE coordinator. “Mieka’s commitment to VOICE these past five years and the impact she made on her community made the selection committee’s decision easy.”
Neely joined VOICE in the eighth grade and has continued to be dedicated to the mission of saving youth lives.
“I am humbled to be chosen as the Bree Wilson Youth Advocate of the Year,” Neely said. “Bree emulated VOICE’s core values. Her light was bright and her passion to advocate and give back to her community and all those around her was a gift. This award and scholarship (are) another way Bree’s light continues to shine.”
Neely plans to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette to pursue a degree in biomedical health sciences with a premedical concentration. She has pledged to continue her volunteer and advocacy work at college.
The Lake County Tobacco Prevention Coalition 2024 award recipients included Coalition Champ Karina Buenavides, Engagement Champ Adrienne Jackson and Youth Advocate Champ Astrid Garett. Honorees for Special Projects were Penny Cochran, Adrienne Jackson, Connie Martin, and Karina Buenavides.
More information about the programs is available online at www.voiceindiana.org or www.tobaccofreelcin.org or by contacting Lake County Community Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Coalition Program Coordinator Irene Boone Phillips at Irene.BoonePhillips@franciscanalliance.org.
