Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey

2025 Youth Assessment Survey

The 2025 Youth Assessment Survey (YAS) was administered in the fall of 2025. Parents/guardians, school administrators, and community organizations seeking information about the YAS can access data, survey questions, and FAQs through the helpful resources below. The survey provides valuable insights into youth behaviors, attitudes, and experiences, helping our community develop targeted prevention programs and support services for young people in our community.

Participation in the YAS is voluntary and confidential. Survey results help secure funding for youth-focused initiatives and guide decision-making for programs that address substance use prevention, mental health support, and other critical areas affecting youth well-being.

2025 YAS Report

Frequently Asked Questions

2025 Survey Questions

“The results of the YAS have continued to be extremely valuable to Holland Hospital as we evaluate the healthcare needs of our community and actionable plans to meeting those needs. When we consider the various and evolving needs, we know knowledge about behaviors and trends over time helps inform our physicians, providers and healthcare leaders of the most appropriate treatments, interventions and supports to promote good health for kids and families.”

Mikaela Andrea
Assistant Vice President, Corporate Partnerships
Holland Hospital

“A comprehensive youth assessment survey is a critical foundation for effective programing. It ensures our investments are targeted, responsive, and aligned with the real factors influencing youth health, leading to better outcomes and long-term community impact.”

Amber Kraai TerHaar
Manager, Healthier Communities
Corewell Health West – Pennock Hospital and Zeeland Hospital

“Trinity Health Grand Haven is grateful for the opportunity to support the Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey (YAS) to ensure that teens have the resources they need to make healthy choices optimizing their ability to thrive.”

Michelle Gravlin
Director of Community Health & Well-Being, Trinity Health Lakeshore
Trinity Health Grand Haven

“The Youth Assessment Survey (YAS) provides the CFHZ Youth Advisory Committee with the foundation to identify challenges facing youth in our community. Through the YAS, we make informed decisions about grant making, volunteering, and service projects, intentionally addressing the needs and gaps reflected in the data. The YAS continuously informs our work and helps us make a tangible impact in our community.”

HZCF Youth Advisory Council Chair
Holland/Zeeland Community Foundation

“The Youth Assessment Survey provides YAC with insight that allows us to lead with knowledge and empathy throughout all of the grant-making we do for our partners, therefore benefiting youth in our community by effectively addressing their needs.”

Larissa Christian
GHACF Youth Adivsory Council Chair
Grand Haven Community Foundation

“For years, the Ottawa County Youth Assessment has given our community an honest, data-driven picture of how our young people are really doing. The Community Foundation uses these insights to guide our grantmaking and invest where youth need support the most. It is an invaluable tool we have been proud to support for many years.”

Patrick Cisler
Holland/Zeeland Community Foundation

“The Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey is a vital tool for understanding the challenges and opportunities facing young people in our community. The Grand Haven Area Community Foundation regularly uses this data to guide priorities that reflect the real needs of our youth. As a longstanding supporter of this assessment, we are grateful to the many collaborative partners that have helped ensure this valuable information has been available for more than 20 years.”

Hadely Streng
Grand Haven Community Foundation

“This data helps SLIC because it demonstrates how our community continues to be impacted by substance use and its implications for the overall wellbeing our peers mental health. This reinforces our mission to continue to lead prevention efforts at a student and local level.”

Youth Member
Student Leaders Initiating Change

“As a health educator, understanding my students is vital to an effective health curriculum. What I teach should reflect the needs of my students and YAS has been a primary resource for that. It provides an insight into our students that we just can’t always get in the classroom. Especially looking at long term trenda. It really helps in understanding what kids need.”

Sarah Orleskie
Teacher
Spring Lake Public Schools

“The Youth Assessment Survey continues to be an essential resource for understanding the evolving landscape of youth health in Ottawa County. By listening directly to our young people through this survey, we gain the evidence needed to adapt our programs and support systems to meet their current needs. This data empowers us to move beyond assumptions and respond with precision and compassion to the real challenges our youth face. I’m grateful for the ongoing partnership between schools, families, and community organizations that makes this vital work possible.”

Lisa Uganski
Deputy Health Officer
Ottawa County Department of Public Health

“As a non-profit network of Christian leaders in Holland/Zeeland, we support the Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey and value the role this data plays in informing local youth ministry efforts. We believe reliable, community-based data helps us better understand the needs of young people and recognize significant trends over time, strengthening our collective ability to respond with wisdom and care.”

Laura Jonker
Interim Executive Director
Movement West Michigan

“At The Children’s Advocacy Center, we are thankful to have local Youth Assessment Survey data that we incorporate directly into our prevention trainings, helping adults better understand the real risks youth in our community face and why child abuse prevention and early intervention are so important.”

Julie
Prevention Director
Children’s Advocacy Center

“Mosaic Counseling relies on the critical data from the Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey to shape our youth-focused programming, which includes professional counseling regardless of insurance status, a school outreach program serving 29 schools across Ottawa County in early 2026, and Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training.”

Sarah Lewakowski
Mosaic

“The Youth Assessment Survey centers youth voice by capturing local perspectives on behavioral trends. The data guides districts and community partners in developing targeted prevention efforts and provides families and youth with a shared reference point for informed conversations about how common these behaviors are.”

Stacey Sills
Regional School Health & Student Success Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District

“We utilize the mental health data from the YAS in nearly every mental health trainings we present in the county. This local, up to date data allows us to connect the information we are presenting to the real life situations that our youth are living. This data clearly shows the need for ongoing education around both mental health knowledge and supportive skills The YAS data also shows that our community wide efforts around youth mental health have been effective, which in turn helps keep this work moving forward.”

Vicki Kavanaugh
Prevention Manager
Arbor Circle

“As we reflect on the 11th administration of the Youth Assessment Survey, it remains one of several tools that helps educators and community partners better understand the experiences and needs of young people in our region. The information gathered supports thoughtful conversations and informed decisions to strengthen student well-being.”

Kyle Mayer
Superintendent
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District

“The Youth Assessment Survey provides valuable insight into current trends among teens and helps guide where instructional emphasis is needed. The data not only informs our work, but also sparks student interest in understanding how our county compares and what the needs of youth in our community truly are.”

Erin Carmody
Teacher
Grand Haven Public Schools

Conducted every two years at grades 8, 10 and 12 in participating Ottawa County schools.

Monitors how behaviors increase, decrease or stay the same over time.

Measures how many teens are engaged in a variety of risky and beneficial behaviors affecting their health and well-being.

The YAS provides evidence-based information about what the biggest needs are (and aren’t) among Ottawa County teens

Since 2005, the Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey has been used to monitor health risk behaviors in Ottawa County teens. Data from this anonymous survey has been used by local agencies and schools to enact more effective programs and policies to improve the health and well-being of local teens.

Gives parents information they may use to guide their teens in becoming physically, emotionally and mentally healthy adults.
Helps faith communities, local agencies and schools focus their efforts on the most pressing and prevalent issues teens face.
Helps evaluate the effectiveness of interventions developed to address pressing and prevalent teen issues.
Provides the option for school districts to have their own results to compare with Ottawa County as a whole. Schools and parents may then make evidence-based decisions about how to address their student body’s unique needs.
Organizations and community members may request an additional analysis that is suited to fit their needs.

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