My Choice, Our Health

Why is health important to us? What makes us healthy? Healthy living is a reoccurring topic that needs to be addressed and looked into more often. Our health is not just restricted to our bodies; our mental health needs to be cared for as well. How we live as individuals, how we are protected, and how we need to educate ourselves are important areas we can attribute into healthy living. This mural was created by people from many different backgrounds, to address what is important to remain healthy.

(Acrylic and spray paint on canvas. A collaborative art piece developed by the 2010-2011 CSHC Youth Board, De Anza High School Youth Advisory Board, and EastSide Arts Alliance.)

Diverse groups of young people—with the single purpose of messaging our health—came together to create a mural that reflects what we believe are our necessities to living healthily. Youth Advisory Board members from the De Anza High School Health Center in West Contra Costa County, the California School Health Centers Association Youth Board, and Oakland-based EastSide Arts Alliance collaborated to create this mural as a representation of what it takes to be healthy.

Ideas important to us were: nutritional health with healthy food choices, reproductive health with preventive care and safe contraceptives, and resources for understanding that being healthy goes hand-in-hand with education. We’ve identified that these healthy choices can be made right now and that many people can contribute to healthy living. Being healthy comes with the choices that we can make and with this mural; our hope is that there is an understanding that healthy choices made right now will impact your health and education later in life. What we choose will determine our healthy living.

— Daniel Yim, CSHC Youth Board Member (2008 – Present)