Palmer teen appointed to board

The board of Kids Are People, Inc., a Valley youth services charity, recently appointed a Palmer High School student to its board of directors.

Sasha Sawyer, 17, adds a youth's perspective to the organization with her appointment. She will serve in the volunteer advisory position through 2004.

Sawyer has volunteered extensively with BreatheFREE Mat-Su, one of Kids Are People's youth risk behavior prevention programs. She has been active in Teens Against Tobacco Use, a school-based group in which high school students persuade elementary school children never to start using tobacco. As a youth advocate, Sawyer publicized the dangers of America's number one preventable killer to adult audiences, including Mat-Su policymakers. Her standard of excellence has been noticed outside of Alaska -- after an American Cancer Society "Speak Out!" training in Anchorage in March, Sawyer was selected and funded to represent Alaska at the June 2003 "Speak Out Summit" in Washington DC.

The daughter of Raymond and Teresa Sawyer of Palmer, Sawyer has roots in Hawaii and Kodiak but sees her future in the Valley, she said. She plans to attend Mat-Su College after high school.