Energy Drinks in High School, a presentation by MCHS Students

At the Mariposa Health & Wellness Coalition’s bi-monthly General Meeting, held Wednesday, May 7th, 2025, four Central Valley Health Youth Corp Representatives for Mariposa County High school made a presentation.

Sam Harveston, Valeria Huerta-Chavez, Kylee Morrow, and Atticus Yu presented “Fueling the Trend: Energy Drinks in High School” – their study to investigate the effects of energy drinks on high school students.

They brought a massive (and we do mean massive) poster to share, which we have linked below.

Just a few highlights from their presentation:

• Most students get their energy drinks from a gas station.

• Most students don’t know what’s in the energy drinks.

• Some 5th graders are already using energy drinks.

• While the FDA advises a caffeine intake of no more than 100mg/day, one Monster energy drink contains 150mg of caffeine.

• Energy drink companies put out ads targeting youth. For example, Monster brand gives video game coupons.

• Awareness is important:

  • Youth are using energy drinks.

  • They have easy access.

  • Companies are targeting them with ads.

  • Energy drinks contain high amounts of caffeine and other ingredients with many possible (unpleasant) side effects.

Each of the students shared their plans post-graduation, and after the presentation they stayed for the meeting, before touring the Community Health Center with teacher Dana Tafoya, who is a member of the Coalition.

We are very grateful to Sam, Valeria, Kylee, and Atticus, as well as Kensley Silva, Alexa Morrow, and Paige Peters, who contributed to authoring the research. Thank you all for gathering this local data, presenting it to us, and allowing us to feature it here on the Coalition's Data Resources page.