Events

OPPA Youth Prevention Awards

The OPPA Youth Prevention Awards honor Ohio's youth leaders for their contributions to prevention on the local and/or state level. Only OPPA members can nominate award candidates.

Below are narratives about each of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Award recipients. We congratulate each of them for their exceptional efforts to champion prevention.

The 2025 OPPA Awards Nomination materials will be made available to OPPA members in August 2025.

Carmen Marbley

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award

Carmen Marbley is the recipient of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award, presented to a teen for exemplary efforts to amplify prevention across Ohio.  

Carmen is a senior at Gahanna Lincoln High School in Franklin County and has been involved in Youth to Youth, a youth-led prevention program based out of CompDrug, a behavioral health organization in Franklin County, for more than four years. 

While Youth to Youth if primarily a locally-based program, the program also provides training, conferences, and other support to youth-led prevention programs across and outside Ohio.

Within Youth to Youth, Carmen is known as a young leader who powerfully impacts both youth and adults and walks in her choice to be drug free in an intentional, influential way. She consistently models the behavior she encourages in others, and she communicates in a way that is both relatable and inspiring. Carmen is also humble and giving, distinguishing when others should be recognized for their positive behaviors and hard work.

Carmen has long made contributions to youth-led prevention on the local level through her participation in Youth to Youth. She is actively involved on Youth to Youth’s Youth Advisory Board, serves on youth staff for Youth to Youth’s middle school camp, and provides leadership at other locally focused Youth to Youth prevention events and activities.

But Carmen’s imprint has exceeded the boundaries of Franklin County. She is a veteran member of the youth staff at the Youth to Youth Summer Conference. The Youth to Youth Summer Conference includes youth and adult participants from many areas of Ohio, other states, and even other countries. In the Summer Conference environment, Carmen is a role model for an international population of youth and adult prevention advocates.

Many youth-led teens in Ohio know or know of Carmen, either from her Summer Conference role or other major youth-led events. At Youth to Youth’s 2024 statewide leadership training, Carmen was one of two teens selected to present to the youth and adults, speaking about youth-led prevention with confidence and integrity to the audience of Ohio youth and adult prevention leaders.

Carmen’s impact within these larger contexts of youth-led prevention provides a beacon for youth whose prevention experience is new, for adults still learning about youth-led prevention, for her already-engaged peers who aspire to even greater prevention heights, and for anyone else in the space who just needs to understand or be reminded of the power of youth to influence positive decision-making and create healthy environments.

“Carmen approaches every challenge with integrity, positivity, and a sense of responsibility,” states Cheryl Sells, Director of Youth Prevention at CompDrug and Youth to Youth. “Her ability to maintain a strong sense of self while encouraging others to make healthy, informed choices is truly remarkable. She is authentic and bold – and understands the impact of prevention.”

Adelaide Powell

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Advocate Award

Adelaide "Addie" Powell is the recipient of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Advocate Award, presented to a teen who is a prevention advocate and a role model to their peers.

Addie is a senior at Global Impact STEM Academy in Clark County. Five years ago, as a 12-year-old seventh-grader, Addie founded BATS (Bringing Awareness To Students), an arts-based youth-led prevention program in Clark County. BATS is a program of Wellspring, a mental health and prevention agency in Clark County.

Upon founding BATS, Addie dove into the youth-led prevention world to lay the groundwork for BATS. She attended the Youth to Youth Summer Conference, a four-day event providing training, connection, and youth-led development for teens and adult allies. She also participated in leadership training through CADCA, a national organization supporting prevention coalitions.

At home, Addie recruited peers, set up social media accounts, planned meetings and activities, and developed a website -- all with a foundation of diversity. An idea and the subsequent diligence of a seventh-grader in 2019 has developed into a 50-member youth-led prevention group, representing students from 11 high schools, all focused on educating and engaging youth in pro-social activities rooted in prevention science.

Over the five years since BATS origin, Addie's accomplishments are many, including:

• Producing a 48-hour teen film festival, in which young people devote two days to learning film craft and creating their works, all based in substance use and mental health prevention topics;
• Playing key roles with the Be the Change Youth Summit, a day of prevention training for middle school students led by BATS members, leading to the development of prevention initiatives by the participating middle school students;
• Leading What’s Wellness, a community-wide day of wellness workshops facilitated by youth; and
• Helping plan and coordinate a local suicide prevention walk.

Addie does none of this alone. She is adept at working with her peers, earning their respect quietly and authentically. She also possesses a self-awareness and maturity that allow her to fully engage with adults. Her insights are consistently on point and in service to the whole, not self-focused. And, she’s dependable, a trait that built the foundation of BATS and has strengthened it to this day.

An advocate is someone who supports or maintains a cause. Addie exemplifies that definition through her commitment to BATS, youth leadership and engagement, and prevention and wellness.

“Addie is known in the community as the ‘kid who can do anything’ and do it well,” notes Beth Dixon, prevention specialist at Wellspring. “Her honesty of self, strength of character, and sensitivity to the world around her are rare.”

Alex Gnau

2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award

Alex Gnau is one of two recipients of the 2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award, honoring a teen who go beyond expectations to champion prevention in their local community.

Alex is a junior at Saint Joseph High School in Lawrence County and is a member of Impact Youth-Led Prevention, supported by Impact Prevention, a prevention agency serving Lawrence County. He also serves on the Lawrence County Youth Council.

Alex began his youth-led prevention journey as an eighth-grader, quickly finding his voice and courage to collaborate with his peers on prevention projects. Since then, he has immersed himself in championing prevention in his school and community.

Among Alex’s contributions:

• Spearheading the Lawrence County Suicide Prevention Walk, a September event promoting awareness and conversation. Alex helps determine walk routes, design giveaways, and create promotional signage. He also speaks at the Walk.
• Immersing himself in mental-health-focused community beautification projects, including a large mural on the Ironton riverfront floodwall area and hopscotches outside local schools and the Impact Prevention building.
• Mentoring elementary-aged kids in the Ironton Municipal Housing Authority through an afterschool program. While helping with arts, sports, and other activities, Alex also promotes and models healthy practices and coping behaviors with the young children.

Since becoming a member of the Lawrence County Youth Council, Alex has developed and trained content at the Lawrence County and Southern Ohio Regional Youth Summits. He has researched content and educated Summit participants – including peers from his own high school – about safe social media usage, healthy relationships, and positive coping mechanisms.

“So many young people in Lawrence County youth-led programming are doing outstanding work, and many of these youth have been assisted or inspired by Alex,” states Meagan Joseph, Program Manager with Impact Prevention. “He has never hesitated to jump in and work hard to ensure the successful implementation of our community’s youth-led prevention initiatives.”

Trinity Collins

2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award

Trinity Collins is one of two recipients of the 2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award, honoring a teen who go beyond expectations to champion prevention in their local community.

Trinity is a junior at Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School and a member of Youth to Youth, a youth-led prevention program of CompDrug, a behavioral health agency in Franklin County. 

Trinity was drawn to Youth to Youth as a place to express her creativity. The positive choices she was making in her life provided a pathway for her growth in confidence and leadership and an avenue to develop her artistic talents to inspire others to make healthy choices.

Trinity has applied her growing desire to support younger teens in healthy decision-making to immersing herself in the leadership of middle school programming with Youth to Youth. She has led many middle school programming nights, planning content and arriving early to prepare for the evening events. She has also served on youth staff at Youth to Youth middle school camps, facilitating small group activities and discussions, leading large group events, and inspiring younger youth through her words and actions.

Trinity has championed prevention with her high school peers, as well. She has staffed the Youth to Youth Summer Conference, a four-day training ground for youth-led prevention teens and adult allies; contributed skills from photography, drawing, and journaling to dance and music to Youth to Youth events and projects; and volunteered at multiple events and activities.

Trinity’s commitment and creativity led her to develop a workshop titled “No Words,” through which she demonstrates the application of art as a coping skill. The workshop educates and raises awareness about mental health and encourages prevention-oriented practices among participants.

“Trinity embodies the qualities of a true leader and is someone who not only meets but far exceeds the expectations placed upon them,” states Aloni Hardrick, prevention specialist with Youth to Youth. “Trinity’s commitment to her peers and passion for prevention has been unwavering.”

Madelyn McCutcheon

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Alumni Award

Madelyn "Maddie" McCutcheon is the recipient of a 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Alumni Award, which recognizes an alumnus of youth-led prevention who continues to promote the core values of prevention as a young adult.

In 2019, BATS – or Bringing Awareness to Students – a new youth-led prevention program grounded in the arts, was formed in Clark County. Maddie, a high school junior at Global Impact STEM Academy at the time, was one of the original members of BATS, which is a program of Wellspring, a mental health and prevention agency in Clark County.

A talented artist, Maddie quickly made her mark with BATS. She contributed artwork to several BATS initiatives, including:

• Capture Kindness, an online competition asking community members to take and submit photos of moments of kindness in their day-to-day lives;
• What’s Wellness, a city-wide day of wellness, held in downtown Springfield, in which community members attended a variety of wellness-focused workshops facilitated by BATS members; and
• The Be The Change Youth Summit, an annual one-day prevention training and planning event for middle school students, coordinated by the BATS teens.

One of Maddie’s most meaningful initiatives in high school was her coordination of a BATS art exhibit, titled “Self-Love.” The proceeds from the art exhibit benefited Project Woman, a local provider that supports and empowers people affected by domestic violence.

As a high school senior, Maddie also entered an Ohio Department of Health anti-vaping video contest, earning second-place honors and a $5,000 college scholarship. Maddie used her scholarship to attend Clark State College, where she earned an Associate Degree in Graphic Design. She now works as a marketing specialist for Coldwell-Banker Heritage in Dayton.

As a young adult, Maddie has continued to support BATS and the group’s prevention efforts. She pitches in when her schedule allows, participating in events and sharing social media posts.

Maddie’s most significant post-high school contribution to the group occurred in 2024 when she created a professional redesign of the Be the Change Youth Summit logo. The new logo made its debut at the Youth Summit just a few months ago.

Maddie has extended her community contributions beyond BATS, as well, including volunteer service with Equality Springfield, where she has used her artwork to as a vehicle to support LGBTQ+ affirming initiatives.

“Maddie is modest, sincere, and gracious in all of her encounters,” notes Beth Dixon, prevention specialist at Wellspring who works with the BATS teens. “BATS has been fortunate to have her continued support as a young adult.”