Ruthie Jeannite, a rising senior at Snowden High School, is involved with Start Strong Boston because she believes that young people need to understand and recognize the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. She believes that teens need to be a part of the solution to dating violence because, even though people often think of domestic violence and dating violence as adult issues, in her experience it is also a big issue for teens.

Ruthie was chosen to be a representative for Start Strong Boston because of her leadership skills and her desire to help other teens avoid teen dating violence. Ruthie is active in her community, both as a member of her school's dance team and as a volunteer at a local gym teaching 6-8 year olds about healthy living and ways to prevent obesity. She is also an active member of the Start Strong Boston Leadership Team, a team that is charged with overseeing and informing the initiative's activities around teen dating violence.

 Though her work with Start Strong, Ruthie would like learn skills that will help her teach her peers that abusive relationships are not safe and that they have other options. She is looking forward to building up her own healthy relationship skills and being a leading voice against teen dating violence.