Education briefs

The Olympian | • Published September 30, 2007

Counselor's anti-tobacco work honored

A counselor at South Sound High School was one of five people honored this week by the Department of Health for their tobacco prevention work.

Patty May, who recently took on the additional job of diversion provider for the entire North Thurston Public Schools, received the Selecky Award, named after Secretary of Health Mary Selecky, who has made tobacco prevention a top priority.

May was honored for her work at promoting tobacco education and prevention at the alternative high school, using projects such as creating an after school "quit class" for students and creating extensive outreach activities at the school, according to the Department of Health.

Other honorees include: Spokane Teens Against Tobacco (STAT); NAACP Bremerton Unit 1134; Gary Conner, assignment editor of KOMO 4 News; Guardian Management, LLC., a property management firm that has banned indoor and outdoor smoking on its properties; Yakima Health District; and the late Melinda Harmon, who was the community health promotion program manager with the Kitsap Health District.

In the last six years, state and local tobacco prevention and control efforts have contributed to a drop of about 50 percent in overall youth smoking and about 24 percent in adult smoking, according to the Department of Health.