My fight against Big Tobacco began when I was in 8th grade, and got involved in my cities Clean-Air initiative. Coming from a small town in the Northwest corner of Missouri, it 's always been extremely rough to gain any community support for tobacco control. After my experiences with Clean-Air Smithville, it became evident to me that tobacco addiction is a huge problem in our society and it was up to me to help combat that. My family and I have been greatly affected by this issue with the loss of my grandfather, to lung cancer, because of his life of cigarette smoking. Serving as the Youth Co-chair of our community coalition, I 've gotten many opportunities to educate my community and myself about why tobacco policy is important to us.