Smoking: It's Like, So-o-o GrossBy Susan Bush
12:00AM / Saturday, March 25, 2006
 | | Rebecca Larabee and Kayla Rowett agree: Smoking Stinks! |
North Adams - Colter Suters, 14, believes he is unlikely to find himself tempted by slick cigarette marketing.
"When I was the fifth grade, I did a project about smoking after my friend's father died," Colter Suters said during a March 23 interview at the Silvio O. Conte Middle School. "In sixth grade, I learned that there's stuff like rat poison in cigarettes. I don't think I'll smoke. I don't want to ruin my health, my breath, and my teeth."
Speaking Up When Friends Light Up
And some students are convinced that if peer pressure can lead to smoking, the same "pressure" can be applied to prevent smoking.
"I have a friend and she smoked," said 11-year-old Casey Thomas. "Once we [Thomas and several other girls] started hanging around with her, we said how bad smoking was for you. She stopped smoking and now she doesn't smoke."
Kelsey Ryan, 11, said that she speaks up when friends light up.
"I know some people in my grade who smoke and I try to talk them out of it," Kelsey said. "Some people listen and some people don't."
Kelsey, Casey, and Colter are students enrolled in teacher Brian Keller's health class. Many of Keller's students are participating in a REACH Community Health Foundation "Clear The Air" smoking prevention campaign. The campaign asks middle and high school students to create print, radio, or television advertisements targeting and discouraging youth smoking. Charles H. McCann and Drury high school students are creating ads in addition to Keller's students.
Sharon Leary, community health advocate for the REACH foundation, spent about an hour with Keller's students on March 24, answering questions and offering information about the campaign.
Impacted By Smoking
Rebecca Larabee, 14, crafted a poster suitable for print advertising. Rebecca's assessment of smoking was brief and precise.
"Smoking is disgusting," she said.
She "borrowed" a poster slogan -"If you smoke, you croak"- from her friend Kayla Rowett, 13, but Kayla didn't appear to mind the creative sharing. She has other original ideas for a large poster-board ad.
"I have a lot of notes and I'm going to make a big ad," Kayla said.
Adult family members are smokers, and their habit directly impacts her, she said.
"I smell like [cigarettes] constantly," Kayla said. "I can't tell anymore but other people smell it. My friends don't like to wear my clothes because of the cigarette smell."
This Jar Smells Really Bad....
Keller keeps a wide, screw-top jar that contained cigarette butts in the classroom as well as a large juice container filled with "tar," a dark substance in cigarettes. The "Butt Jar" now holds residue and the odor of multiple cigarettes and is used as a foul-smelling tool to discourage smoking, Keller said. The "Tar Jar" holds what is believed to be the amount of tar accumulated in human lungs after one year of smoking cigarettes, he said.
Lizmarie Valentin, 13, said that she hasn't decided her advertisement strategy.
"I'm still figuring out what to do," she said. "Smoking is bad and it's not healthy for people. I smelled the 'butt jar' and it was really gross."
Lizmarie has participated in gymnastics programs and said that she hopes to be a high school cheerleader. Smoking would interfere with her ability to perform as a cheerleader, she said.
"None of my family smokes," Lizmarie said. "There are people in school who smoke but I don't think that anybody thinks it's cool."
Chelsey Ogert, 14, is also involved in gymnastic activities.
"I think smoking is nasty," she said. "I think that this campaign is good."
"This Class Has Stepped Up"
Savannah Walley, 13, and 13-year-old Nicole Fachini are working on a video advertisement. Fachini and Walley expect to appear in the advertisement as friends who are dealing with peer pressure. The video script calls for smoking but the smoking will be simulated, Savannah said.
"There will be a big group of kids and these two girls, and there will be peer pressure," said Nicole.
Most of his students are taking the campaign and ad development very seriously, Keller said.
"This class has really stepped up," he said. "We have a lot of talent and a lot of kids who are involved in sports in this class."
The advertisement submission deadline is April 10. Entries will be judged. One print, radio, and television ad will be selected for release to the public. A print ad will appear in local newspapers during May, a radio ad will be broadcast on radio station WNAW, and the Northern Berkshire Community Television group has agreed to air a television ad on local public access channels. Leary is working with Adelphia cable company officials about a possibility of broadcasting video advertisements on selected Adelphia channels as well.
Ads may also appear on iberkshires.com.
Additional information about the "Clear The Air" campaign is available by calling Leary at 413-664-5404.
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