Zuri Stackhouse
Miss South Carolina State University
Interview Video » (coming soon)

There has been much conversation and controversy recently on the issue of healthcare and healthcare reform. As the public is being made aware of the controversy concerning healthcare through the efforts of grassroots organizations, healthcare officials, politicians, and/or insurance companies, ordinary citizens are still being adversely affected by the lack of healthcare by the fact that many citizens either do not have healthcare coverage at all or not enough coverage to cover the cost of their ailment or treatment thereof. As Miss SC State University, I use my platform to educate my student body and the Orangeburg community about the importance of health and wellness in achieving goals, the cost effectiveness of prevention, and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

My platform for the 2009-2010 academic school year is People United to Save our Health or P.U.S.H., as such my first initiative was to bring awareness to the issue of breast cancer. The simple fact that many African American women are being diagnosed later and with less chance of recovery are therefore more likely to die from this dreaded disease motivated me to team with Teresa Chandler, Director of the Mabrey Center for Cancer Care and Pinkey Carter, Director of Brooks Health Center located on the campus of SC State University. I choose breast cancer awareness not only because my grandmother Reatha McKinney was diagnosed with the disease almost two years ago. She is in remission now but her fight to stay beautiful and not to lose faith really inspires to stay encouraged and not to give up when the road gets hard.

The African American community has always had a problem with making the right decisions with choosing the rights foods to eat or when it comes to exercise. Though times have changed some what they we still have a “slave mentality when it comes to our health. Living a healthy lifestyle will in turn help us in the long run and will inspire family and friends to live a healthy life. African Americans health problems began years ago and are a reoccurring cycle in the household. We as young people have the opportunity to inspire a sense of urgency for generations that come after ours. If we continue the same road laid by our ancestors we will only be adding destruction of our culture.

Now that my reign is coming to an end I hope that I have used my platform to inspire change on our campus and with the students that interact with on a daily basis. Some students still laugh when I say that there needs to be a change but if they knew what the diabetes rates and death rates in our community were they would probably that this more serious. I my have an advantage over much on campus because I am in the ROTC program and I workout everyday but I still try my hardest to use that to get my friends and family out to do something new for a change. I will continue the fight for a healthy lifestyle even after I have left the hollowed halls of South Carolina State University. The battle for a long lasting life will need more than myself to accomplish the goals we need to ban together as a country to fight this day by day.