By admin 
When her Sacramento school lost air conditioning during a 116-degree heatwave, fourth grader Natalie Rubio watched classmates eat lunch outside in dangerous temperatures. They didn’t know the dizziness and nausea they felt were signs of heat illness. At just 13, Rubio helped codify that crucial lesson into California law.
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“About a third of my class told me that they had felt sick while eating outside, but didn’t know that they were experiencing heat illness,” Rubio said.
Rubio approached the Sacramento City Unified School District Board about the lack of heat illness awareness in schools and her concern for her fellow classmates.
From there, Rubio gained momentum, taking her mission from school board meetings where she spoke alongside public health officials, firefighters and public school teachers, to the state Capitol.
“I brought a petition flyer I made to the celebration to raise awareness and get support,” she said “I was hoping some lawmakers might be there, but didn’t know who they were, so I shared my idea with lots of people. That’s how I met Assemblymember Tom Lackey.”
Empowering students to protect themselves from heat illness resonated with Assemblymember Lackey, R-Palmdale, and his team who said they “might have a bill” for Rubio come springtime.
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The bill, AB 1653, requires the Instructional Quality Commission to consider adding a heat illness curriculum to the Health Framework for California Public Schools, a health education guidebook for elementary and high school teachers.
Rubio’s gusto and the issues raised in the bill have struck a chord in more than just Lackey. It was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month.
The revision of California’s Public School health framework will take a few years. But Rubio’s enthusiasm is growing — she wants to work with neighboring school districts to implement heat illness education ahead of the revision deadline.
“This law has the potential to help almost 6 million students in California to learn something that could save lives,” Rubio said.
Rubio doesn’t necessarily want to stop with California. She said she hopes to expand the legislation and heat-resistance tactics to schools across the county.
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