AmeriCorps *State member, Mischa Tourin, serves as the Youth Program Coordinator at Essex CHIPS and Teen Center in Essex Junction, Vermont. As a part of his service, Mischa brought together a group of 11 high school students to form a group called "Above the Influence." This group of upper classmen work to promote healthy decision making and staying above the influence of drugs and alcohol among their peers and in their community. This year they have been highlighted on the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy website, delivered the keynote at the Vermont Working With Youth Conference, had a vignette of the group shown nationally as winners of the MTV "Unwasted Weekend" contest, and spoke during numerous assemblies, health classes and peer leadership groups in the local high school and middle schools.