Tobacco Facts.

Ritzville area youth have stepped to the forefront of educational policy and tobacco prevention through a series of summits, assemblies, grants and ongoing student-driven efforts.

The timeline of events and activities began when Ritzville High School students were approached in October 2008 to participate in a tobacco prevention policy enhancement grant and attended the 2008 Washington State Prevention Summit.

In addition five adults representing Adams County Health Department, Adams County Community Counseling, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Adams County Environmental Health and a community representative attended the summit.

In November, students met with the high school principal, health educator, the Family and Consumer Science Education teacher and journalism teacher for approval to form a new school club and projected activities.

Ten high school students formed a tobacco prevention group in November 2008. After Adams County Health Department Tobacco Prevention Program Coordinator Karen Potts agreed to serve as the group advisor, students and health department staff began to meet weekly for project planning.

By the end of November, five of the students had participated in a WhiteOUT for the Great American SmokeOUT.

Planning began in December for youth-sponsored all-school assemblies about healthy choices and decreasing tobacco use after students and the advisor attended the SpeakOUT Youth Leadership Training.

Since January 2009, Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU) training was completed through the high school health class and the group formed Just Don’t Do It (JDDI), a student action team with a long-term goal of decreasing the number of Ritzville School District students who use tobacco.

Jana Koller of ESD 101 met with the group to discuss a policy enhancement pilot project in mid-January, and the group divided into two teams – one to coordinate school assemblies and one to work on the pilot project.

While Team 1 was charged with organizing a school assembly featuring Brad Barton, Team 2 took the lead on the policy enhancement project. The entire group also delved into the Social Norms Campaign.

The American Cancer Society awarded a $250 Community Action Grant and a $300 TATU Project Award to help the student action team implement their projects.

Students also formed the JDDI team for the 2009 Relay For Life of Ritzville on Aug. 14-15.

The assemblies with Brad Barton were deemed successful by team members after Barton spent April 8 presenting three sessions at Gilson Gym for grades K-4, 5-8 and high school youth as well as mingling with high school students at the tobacco prevention booth and visiting the 7/8 grade classroom.

The two teams participated in the Washington Prevention Youth Summit on April 30. Ten youth and four adults attended the summit.

Team 1 offered a PowerPoint presentation about the Brad Barton event and shared a large collage display of their activities.

Team 2 also did a PowerPoint presentation about the tobacco policy enhancement project. Included in the talk were the team’s plans to present information to school staff, school board, county commissioners, city council and chamber of commerce on tobacco policy.

The team’s goal was to demonstrate how the tobacco policy relates to the school district as well as the correlation between tobacco use and academic achievement.

The group planned and prepared end-of-the-year activities for Ritzville students including a coloring contest for grades K-2, poster contest for grades 3-4, a TATU presentation for grades 5-6 and a treasure hunt-type activity with tobacco prevention messages woven in for high school students.

In addition, students planned tobacco retailer compliance checks. The group continues to be actively involved in tobacco prevention and advocacy through such events as Relay For Life and creating a social norms campaign using the 2008 Healthy Youth Survey data.

Winners of the coloring and poster contests will be announced at Relay For Life.
© Copyright: Ritzvillejournal

Related posts:

1. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 President Obama will sign historic legislation granting authority over tobacco...
2. FDA wants your input on new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act President Obama has promised us an open government and that...
3. Cut Rate Tobacco grand opening Have you ever thought about making your own cigarettes in...