With another exciting school year up ahead Catalyst is welcoming a brand-new youth board! We are super pumped about this year's killer group of youth excited about making a difference, and we would like to officially introduce them. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, and get to know, our 2012 Catalyst Youth Board!

Madi

 

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I wanted to join Catalyst because i heard my dear friends Cassie and Alexxis talking about it and O wanted to know what it was about:). The coolest thing about Catalyst would have to be how it has not demanded that you cut out all junk food and that they make being healthy fun:).

What is your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is to play tennis & to dance randomly even if there is no music:).

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

Larryboy from veggie tales:) because he's silly:).

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world who would you meet and where?

I would meet Novak Djokavic in Australia:).

Taylor

Why did you want to join Catalsyt/What do you think is cool about Catalyst

 I heard about Catalyst through a mini grant our Minnesota Family, Career and Community Leaders of America State Executive Council received. Michelle Karch came to our November Summit and told us all about Catalyst. Needless to say, she sparked an interest inside of me. With that, I attended the 2011 Catalyst Summit in April and was hooked. The people are genuine and the mission is spot on!

What is your favorite way to stay active?

Other than the occasional run, I feel the best way to stay active is to fall in love with the outdoors. People today seem to be almost afraid to go on a hike, fish, hunt, or climb a mountain or two. It's kind of depressing really. Not only is it easy and a good way to maintain good fitness, but exploring Mother Nature is FUN. You've just got to take the time to realize it.

What 's your favorite food, and why?

I don't have a favorite food. However, my favorite food GROUP is, by far, fruits. I'm not exactly sure why, but if I wasn't careful, I could take a few minutes and eat a fridge full of random assortments of fruit in one sitting.

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

I don't know if he's considered a "superhero", but if I had the chance, I'd most definitely be the red PowerRanger. Ever since I was little I envied his skills.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world who would you meet and where?

If I had a long lost brother, I would meet him. Seeing as I do not have one though, I would probably most like to meet Hu Jintao. He is the Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. I think it'd be interesting to see why he rules as he does. As for where I'd meet him, I'd probably meet him in some part of the Himalayas for the simple reason that mountains are beautiful.

Alexxis

Why did you want to join Catalyst/What do you think is cool about Catalyst?

I wanted to join Catalyst to learn more things about my health and the health of others. I think being on a board of any sort is always cool and it defiantly was this past year!!

What’s your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active would probably be doing any type of sport, but my favorite is softball!!!

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite type of food would defiantly have to be chicken! It can be made in so many different ways, and they all taste so good!!

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

I would love to be invisible woman! I could pull so many pranks on people and most importantly...conquer all evil by being super sneaky!!!

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

If I could meet any one in the world I would definitely want to meet Tyrese Gibbons!! <3 He is good looking, funny, and an amazing actor! I would want to meet him in Italy because I really wanna go there, it is my dream place to go someday!!! :)

Kate

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I eat healthy and wanted to encourage others to do the same. I also wanted to make a real change in my school, I felt other organizations did some cool things, but never made any impact.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

I love biking, it lets me get to most of my friends houses without having the pain of organizing rides. It is also relaxing and helps me calm down when life is stressful.

What's your favorite food, and why?

Stir fry with noodles it's really easy to make and is very, very delicious.

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

Daphne Nicole Powell from No Ordinary Family, because she can read minds and is generally awesome.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

I would met Hillary Clinton in Libya, to have the chance to met someone I really admire and get to see more of the real world.

Kaylen

Why did you want to join Catalyst/What do you think is cool about catalyst

I thought Catalyst was unique as in I've never seen a program quite like it.  I was first introduced to Catalyst when a representative from the organization presented a short workshop to the MN state FCCLA officers. Making healthy choices is a big issue and a growing problem in our society and I am very excited to take part in helping promote the issues.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is to zone out to my ipod and head to my local YMCA.  I'm also a volleyball player and stay active with that during my season.

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite food is stir fry (basically rice and vegetables with seasoning if you didn't already know) because not only am I vegetarian and can actually eat it, but it's just plain good.

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

The really fast kid from the Incredible.  Great movie. 

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

I would meet my fellow Catalyst youth members in Hawaii for some R & R (oh, I suppose we could get some work done, too).

Ryan

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I want to be in Catalyst so I could learn more about eating healthy so I can teach my friends, family and school how to eat properly. Eating healthy is important in my life because of how busy I am with sports. Catalyst also will help me teach my community and school how to easy it can be to implement healthy choices for food into daily life.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is playing sports. Sports keep me active all year long. It's also a great way to hang out with my friends. I also like to water-ski, swim, golf, tube and run in the summer. In the winter I like to snowmobile, skate outdoors with friends.

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite food is any type of pasta. I like pasta because it has a lot of carbs which is good to have the before a big sporting event. And I also like it because it comes in so many different forms and it taste good

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

If I were to be a superhero I would like to be Batman. I would like to be Batman because he is not self centered he cares more about people then himself.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where?

I would like to met Tim Thomas the goalie for the Boston Bruins because he is a good leader, and role model, and a man that I would like to be friends with.

Carina

Why did you want to join Catalyst/What do you think is cool about Catalyst?

I wanted to join Catalyst because I want to make a change in how people view healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. What I think is really cool about Catalyst is this group gives teens the power to get the message out to the public and do something to improve not only our lifestyles but help those around us too.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is by playing sports, going on bike rides around my neighborhood or going swimming either at the lake during the summer or at the pool.

What's your favorite food, and why?

I don't really have a favorite food I will try anything new. But if I did have to choose one I would say anything Italian, or having to do with pasta! I love pasta!

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

I don't know superheroes all that well, but a superhero is an image of an ideal person with abilities beyond that of the average human, who will do whatever it takes to keep people from harm no matter what it takes and without asking anything in return. To me a superhero is an everyday person who goes out of their way to help people in some way shape or form, without asking for anything in return and doing it from the kindness of their heart.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

If I could meet anyone in the world anywhere in the world I would meet my parents when they were younger in El Salvador. I would want to meet them just so I could relive some of their stories they have shared with me, with them.

Sarah

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I joined Catalyst because I thought that it was an awesome organization that encourages others and myself to stay active, eat right, and to fight against tobacco. My step father has high blood pressure but after my mom and the rest of my family moved in to live with him, his blood pressure went down (almost to normal again) because of all the healthy foods that he ate (such as Korean food). Sometimes my mom cooks and at other times I cook. I liked how I was being a good health advocate by cooking my new dad good healthy food. Just like how I have helped my dad to eat right and assured him to become more healthy, I also wanted to help my community and school to eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. Catalyst is a wonderful organization that helps me to become a good role model and a health advocate that I instantly wanted to join after I've first heard about this amazing organization from my friend Kate Kuehl. Also, I love how Catalyst not only works with our diet, but to fight against tobacco. I lost my grandfather three years ago due to lung cancer and I have always wanted to help out somehow to make less people die due to tobacco's evil influence and its evil minions to harm the user's insides. I absolutely adore how Catalyst allows me to fight passionately against people from using this hateful plant.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is to learn how to dance to some of my favorite Korean songs. However, that's not the only way that I stay active. At other times, I ride the family's stationary bike for about 15 to 20 minutes, walk to my grandma's house (an hour 15 minutes or an hour 25 or 30 minutes depending on how fast I walk), or walk to the park and back home (although the park is only about 15, 20 minutes away). At other times, I also go outside in my backyard and garden, pulling weeds to maintain a clean yard. (I feel that it's plenty exercise pulling weeds alone though.) Once my pool gets cleaner, I'll also be swimming a lot more too. In the winter though, I like going skiing or iceskating together with my family.

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite food us the Korean "Spicy Rice-cakes" because it gives me the energy that I need and the taste is scrumptious, absolutely delicious! Plus, the way that I make it, I pit in lots of "gochuchang" which is a famous Korean Red Sauce. I also put in oden (square fish cakes), rings of onions, some chopped up green onions, and a handful of dried anchovies (Although that's just to add more flavor, I could eat it if I really wanted to, and get more nutrients from it.) I still eat a balanced meal while eating this too:D Spicy foods are my favorite (also don't they speed up my metabolism you so I'm actually losing some calories while in eating? Lol).

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

If I could be any superhero, I would like to be Robinhood. I admire his marvelous skills as an archer and a swordsman, but his most admirable quality is how he always robs from the rich to give to the poor. He was the average ordinary man that always helped the needy (the poor) when the rich kept on getting richer by raising taxes on the poor, and almost everything else, the poor remained poor or even more poor. One man (being Robinhood) was always very brave and courageous and he pit the welfare of the public before anyone. Robinhood is a magnificent hero that helped the poor to get their (rightful) money back.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

I would like to meet Jesus in my home so that I could become his good disciple. My lifelong goal is to become the best Christian that I could be. If Jesus is with me and continues encouraging me, then I will want to bring even more glory to God's name. There will be less times when I stray away from God and do things that will make Him sad:( If I could see and talk to Jesus everyday, then I feel that I can achieve my lifelong goal.

Ryan

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I joined because the summit was a blast and I got to meet people and be involved in something big.

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is by playing sports and running.

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite food is pizza, and bacon cheeseburgers....mmmmm bacon......

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

If I could be a superhero, I would be Superman because he is the coolest. If I could breathe ice...well that'd be pretty beastly.

Cassie

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I wanted to join Catalyst because I like making a difference in peoples lives and it looked like something I would be interested in because I really like food . I think something cool about Catalyst is that it somehow can relate to everyone and everyone can be actively involved in it

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is, well, actually I don't have just one...but some of the ways that I like to stay active would be swimming, playing volleyball with my friends, church softball, jumping on trampolines, horseback riding; pretty much anything! 

What's your favorite food, and why?

My favorite food would have to be either tacos or sometime of pasta. They are 2 of my favorite foods because you can put as much or as little of something on a taco and it's good for you. Pasta is just delicious and also good for you.

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

If I could be any superhero I would probably be Spiderman, because I would want to swing around in the air in a large city.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

If I could meet anyone in the world, it would probably be Taylor Swift in Italy

Sydney

Why did you want to join Catalyst?

I joined Catalyst because my sister had a lot of fun with it and I always enjoy meeting new people. I think it's cool that Catalyst gives kids a way to make a difference and have fun.

 

What's your favorite way to stay active?

My favorite way to stay active is swimming. I am on the swim team at my school with a lot of my friends. I also started doing Zumba at Lifetime and I absolutely love it!

If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

If I could be any superhero I would be Mulan. I know she doesn't really count as a superhero, but I think she should. She is the hero in a Disney movie rather than being a damsel in distress. When I was little, Mulan was my favorite movie and I always wanted to be just like her.

If you could meet anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, who would you meet and where??

This is a hard question. If I could meet anyone I would like to meet children in Africa or Central America. I know that many of them live in poverty. I would like to learn about their lifestyle and bring them things that they need.

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