Writer, Toothpaste(2004 South Texas Contest Winner)

"We were used to pleasing the adults in town and having them all know and love us. Our film was having the opposite effect. In spite of pressure, we decided to keep the condom scenes and the question mark ending, and stand up for the film we wrote."

- Amanda Ramirez

Amanda wrote the story for Toothpaste as part of a class assignment with classmates Laura Coria, Krystal Villareal and Gladys Sanchez. The four girls from Mission, TX got way more than they expected in return when their script won the 2004 Writing Contest and opened up a community-wide dialogue about progressive sex education. When the Abstinence-Only Education Committee tried to stop Toothpaste from being distributing in TX schools, Amanda and her co-writers successfully rallied educators, family and friends to support their film and their message.

Amanda credits the process of making Toothpaste for introducing her to her passion for promoting open communication about sex between youth and adults. Since making the film, Amanda and her co-writers worked with Scenarios and Advocates for Youth to spearhead the Rio Grande Valley Youth LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) Chapter, giving youth in their community a powerful voice in LULAC’s agenda. For this effort, the girls earned the 2006 Generation Next Award from Choice USA.

In addition to their training with Scenarios USA, Amanda and her co-writers completed a weekend long training in Washington, DC and joined Advocates for Youth’s "My Voice Counts" Campaign Network. During that weekend, the girls took the chance to lobby Texas federal representatives for comprehensive sex education in schools.

Amanda is from Mission, TX, a town with a population of 46,000 that sits just a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was a senior at Mission High School when she, Laura and Krystal wrote Toothpaste. Now 21 years old, Amanda attends South Texas College to pursue a career in Public Health.

Past Speaking Engagements

• Annie E. Casey Foundation Adolescent Reproductive Health Grantees Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM in 2007
• American School Health Association Conference in St. Louis, MO in 2006
• 2005 REAL DEAL Awards and Gala Host

Contact

• Email: info@scenariosusa.org
• Phone: (866) 414 1044

Find out more about Toothpaste or view it now (16 minutes):

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