An Unalaska student has been selected to take part in the Surgeon General’s anti-tobacco campaign.

Rachel Gulanes, a rising senior at Unalaska City School, appears alongside Surgeon General Regina Benjamin today in Seattle at a panel focused on youth and smoking. She’s just one of two Alaskans invited to speak at the town-hall event.

Gulanes started getting involved with anti-tobacco work when she was 14, but her advocacy began at home when she was much younger.

“When I was eight, my dad actually quit smoking on my birthday. That was my gift from him. Now, I want to help other kids who are at that age realize that they have an important impact on their parents,” says Gulanes.

Gulanes is now a member of the Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance, where she's helped draft resolutions supporting an anti-tobacco school district policy and statewide smoke-free workplace legislation. Both resolutions were passed by the Alaska Association of Student Governments this spring.

According to a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control, about 15 percent of high schoolers in Alaska smoke cigarettes.