Congratulations Questa 2020 Senior Class!

 

On May 30th there was an honorary Parade for our 2020 Graduating class. When the idea transpired, Maria Gonzalez and Mary Flores began to lead the way to make this day possible. This was a community event in collaboration with Questa Class of 2020 senior parents, Vida Del Norte Drug Free Coalition, The Village of Questa, Questa and Cerro EMS, Taos County Sheriffs office, Harvest Questa,Living Word Ministries and other community members. The Vida Del Norte Coalition wants to thank all that helped to make this event possible.


The Vida Del Norte Coalition live streamed a video of this event on vidadelnorte.com and also on our website for those who could not make it out to see it in person.  Here are a few photos taken from that video. More of these photos and an edited version of the video stream can be viewed online on our website at vidadelnorte.com/2020-senior-album and also on our facebook and instagram pages (facebook.com/vidadelnortecoalition, instagram.com/vidadelnorte).





Active8 is staying busy this Spring!

 

The members of Active8 have been staying busy lending a helping hand in our community this spring.  They have been helping out at our local food bank and the other day they gave out close to 200 boxes of food! Also, some of the members of Active8 have been working as youth interns at the Questa Farmers Market. Here are some pictures of what they have been up to.

Active 8 has also conducted an environmental scan of our local alcohol establishments to determine the amount of alcohol advertising that the youth are seeing on a daily basis.


The scan showed us that a great number of alcohol logos and images are present on our main highway.  Of the three alcohol-selling businesses, one had 9 advertisements , another had 19, and the third had 11. One business owner told us that all of these signs, neon lights and banners are provided free by the alcohol companies. It's interesting that other companies are not nearly as "generous" with free advertising! 

We were pleased that we did not see alcohol advertising anywhere other than at these businesses.  The scan showed us that, as a culture, we have become desensitized to the extent that alcohol is present in our lives.
We know that our brains are not fully developed until age 25, including the part that helps us make good decisions. Drinking alcohol at any age affects our ability to assess risk and make good judgments.
  Alcohol marketers have made alcohol look glamorous, fun and entertaining. This gives out the message that we need alcohol to have fun.
Vida Del Norte's focus is to shift that mindset in our community.  Starting with the youth, we hope to re-sensitize our children and adults to the effects that all the alcohol messaging that our kids are receiving can have a negative effect their health and safety.  Vida Del Norte will be placing positive messages throughout the community that portray ways to have fun and enjoy life without alcohol or drugs.  We will also be working with the local establishments to address the amount of advertising that we see daily, creating a more positive community for each of us to enjoy.
Environmental Scan Article by Janie Corinne and Maria Gonzalez

 

Here are some photos that were taken  during this environmental scan of alcohol advertising around town.