Michael Krol is an 11-year-old from Midland, Texas, and a fifth-grade student at Washington Magnet School. His hobbies include playing soccer, basketball and football. Michael also likes writing poetry and playing the guitar, which he has been doing for nearly seven years. He combined those last two interests to produce “Prisoner of Asthma,” a moving poem set to music that Michael composed on his guitar.

Elizabeth Jaeger is a 13-year-old from Walker, Minnesota, and a seventh-grade student at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Middle School. She enjoys soccer, basketball, swimming, speech and band (she plays the flute). Elizabeth’s essay brings to life the daily struggles of being a middle school student with food allergies.

The Healthy Alamance Child Asthma Coalition Alamance County, North Carolina, formed in 1999 to address the high rate of asthma in the community. The coalition has had great success improving the availability of effective asthma care, increasing awareness of asthma, and enhancing the coordination of care among local agencies and providers. Their efforts have served the community well; asthma-related hospitalization rates have been cut nearly in half, and their new Pediatric Asthma Center now serves as a permanent facility where parents of children with asthma can turn for help and support.

State Representative Peter Batula (R-Merrimack) developed and introduced legislation earlier this year that allows New Hampshire children to carry and self-administer asthma and anaphylaxis medication while at school and youth camps. New Hampshire is now the 21st state to protect student rights and the first to include campers as well.