Advancing Kentucky Together: Pharmacy student strives to help Kentucky’s youth
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 6, 2025) — E-cigarettes are the most used tobacco product among U.S. youth, according to the CDC. One University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy student wants to make a positive impact on Kentucky’s youth through education and advocacy.
Griffin Nemeth is also the coordinator for the #iCANendthetrend Youth Advisory Board, a campaign that is focused on delivering youth tobacco prevention education to families and children in the Commonwealth. Through high school advocates, Nemeth and his team have been able to reach more than 20,000 individuals to promote healthier lifestyles.
Nemeth is one of many on UK’s campus and across Kentucky working to advance our state. They all reflect UK’s mission to teach, care, serve and discover.
Nemeth and other members of our community — who are also working to help improve the state we all serve — shared their voices for both the 30-second and 60-second spots. While we hear only a few seconds from each of them, they have powerful stories to tell.
UKNow asked Nemeth a few questions about what it means to be part of the UK community — and of a legacy — of people who are working to advance Kentucky.
Read the Q&A below.
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UKNow: What makes the University of Kentucky special?
Nemeth: The University of Kentucky is unique in its ability to cultivate passion within its students, employees and all those who are reached by its influence. From selecting an undergraduate program to finding a calling in policy advocacy and a career in pharmacy, I’ve experienced firsthand how UK’s commitment to education, research and service changes lives and builds better communities for us to live them in.
UKNow: What does “advancing Kentucky” mean to you?
Nemeth: UK is set apart by its mission. The university doesn’t just focus on academics — it fosters leadership, innovation and a sense of responsibility to improve the well-being of Kentuckians. To me, advancing Kentucky is addressing issues like health disparity and empowering our young people to shape the future of our state. Whether it’s through health education, advocacy or community engagement, advancing Kentucky is about making choices that prioritize its people.
UKNow: How has your time at UK helped you be part of UK’s mission to advance Kentucky?
Nemeth: The education I received in my undergraduate studies and now continue in my pharmacy and graduate programs has afforded me the capacity to think critically when addressing public health challenges, like commercial tobacco use and nicotine dependence. Meanwhile, UK’s support for leadership development and innovative programs has provided me with the invaluable opportunity to collaborate with youth, lawmakers, and a number of partners, for whom I am more than grateful, to strengthen the health of Kentucky.
UKNow: What is your hope for UK’s next 160 years?
Nemeth: My hope is that UK remains steadfast in its mission to improve lives through excellence. I want to see UK remain at the forefront of what this institution does best: engaging in education and research to help us better understand ourselves and our world and to improve our ability to tackle complex challenges, and service, making the fruits of that work more than our own. In 160 years, I hope most that UK is still the place where students are inspired to use their voices and education to benefit others.
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As we look forward to UK celebrating its 160th birthday, UKNow is sharing more about these members of our community and what inspires them to do more and be more for the people of Kentucky.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.