With paintbrushes in hand, a group of students fill white poster boards with colorful slogans like “Fuel your body, fuel your life” and “Be Healthy 4 life.” Their posters will soon line the halls of the school as part of a larger community project to encourage healthy eating across Williamson County.
The team Greener Wilco, created for a HOSA Community Awareness Project, was begun by sophomores Saanvi Sharma, Diya Vanam, Huy Do and Cassie Sieber. Their goal is to raise awareness on how diet impacts our overall health and how to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
“A lot of us have family members with diseases related to healthy eating like diabetes,” Sharma said. “It kind of just occurred to us like ‘what if we promote healthy eating?’ especially because everyone always says things like ‘I need to eat healthier’.”
The team hosted a healthy bake sale with Wilco Warriors and held a poster making event on campus. To spread their initiative further, they partnered with organizations like Open Eyes Beyond Borders, Linh Son Buddhist Temple, St. David’s Hospital and the Sai Baba Hindu Temple.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of what foods are healthy and don’t have access to it,” Vanam said. “It’s important to let them know about healthy eating habits so they can get more into them.”
Most recently, Greener Wilco held an interactive arts and crafts workshop with the South Asians International Volunteer Association (SAIVA). SAIVA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the well-being of older adults in the South Asian Community through cultural activities and service.
“With the conversations that we have around healthy eating, there’s a lot of it seen as western,” Do said. “The more that we try to implement culture and show how it can be linked to healthy eating, the more people we can help influence and create change within our community.”
After educating seniors on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet, the team also contributed to the local SAIVA community garden.
“ The biggest thing I’ve noticed, especially in these cultural centers that we’ve been helping out with is pushing the message that we can stick to our traditions and our cultures without having to change,” Do said. “Our cultures can stay the same, it’s the techniques we use. There is a lot of health that can be found in our cultural foods and we don’t have to change that.”
Greener Wilco’s next event will be held at Stiles Middle School where they will teach students in the Leadworthy program the importance of budgeting in eating healthy. So far, they have raised $345 of their $450 goal on GoFundMe, with all funds raised used to purchase equipment for their events.
“ I’ve had people come up to me and they’d be like ‘oh my gosh, you’re behind Greener Wilco’ and that their new 2026 New Year’s resolution is to eat healthier,” Sharma said. “We even had a SAIVA board member come and talk about how much she loves what we’re doing.”
You can support GreenerWilco on their Instagram page @greenerwilco, TikTok @greener.wilco and GoFundMe.
“There is no limit for how much impact that we can have on our community,” Do said. “As a group, we are all passionate about this beyond HOSA. We love competing, we love the HOSA aspect, but even when HOSA finishes, we’re just going to continue with this and drive the message home that people can find healthy eating in their everyday lives.”