Lehigh High students fundraise for heart health through American Heart Association Teen of Impact program

At Lehigh High School, students participating in the American Heart Association’s Teen of Impact program described campaigns to raise awareness and funds for heart-health initiatives.

The Teen of Impact initiative is a nine-week philanthropic blind competition designed to highlight students who advocate for heart health, raise awareness and raise funds for the American Heart Association, Brooklyn Sanchez, American Heart Association, said. “Our Teen of Impact initiative is a 9 week philanthropic blind competition. It's really meant to highlight students from different schools to really advocate for heart health, raise awareness, and raise funds for the American Heart Association's students are some of the brightest and best around. They are really our next generation of leaders, future philanthropists, and so it's really important to meet them where they are in the community,” Sanchez said.

The program allows students to design individual campaigns. Hannah Lewis, a Lehigh High School student and Teen of Impact nominee, described her campaign, Healthy Hearts Through Fine Arts, which links heart-health messaging to the school’s theater program. “So, I am a Teen of Impact nominee. So, my goal is to raise money and awareness about heart health and donate that money and funds to individuals with heart diseases and to heart defects to make a difference in their lives,” Lewis said.

Another participant, Abby Martinez, described a mix of outreach and fundraising activities she ran during her campaign, including selling flowers with heart-health notes in neighborhood streets and hosting an Orangetheory fitness class whose proceeds supported her campaign. “Yeah. So we did a bunch of activities. 1 activity was we sold flowers around the neighborhoods and my city, and they had little notes that just talked about heart health and ways to be healthy. But then we also did stuff that's more active, like I held an Orangetheory class with a bunch of people from all over the city, and the proceeds went to my campaign,” Martinez said.

A representative noted that the program aligns with Alpine School District’s vision for learning and its stated competencies for students. The representative said the campaign platform surfaces attributes the district wants students to acquire, and thanked the American Heart Association for involving students.

Organizers and student participants emphasized creativity in outreach: Sanchez said she has seen students tie awareness messaging into fitness, family outreach and school activities. The students and organizers did not specify total funds raised or the competition’s winners during the recorded remarks.

The Teen of Impact program at Lehigh High illustrates a student-led approach to health advocacy, pairing extracurricular interests such as theater and fitness with fundraising and public education about heart disease and defects.