Youths speak out against smoking

By Diane Huber | Lacey Today • Published April 09, 2008

About 30 South Sound High School students joined a commitment to quit smoking last Wednesday, part of the 13th annual Kick Butts Day.

They held signs at the school's College Street entrance with anti-smoking messages such as "No Stank You" and "Bulldogs say: No Butts."

The group stood in the place called "the pit" — the area just off campus where students congregate during lunch to smoke.

"I hope people who are driving by actually think about their smoking habits," said sophomore D'Vante Jackson, 16. "It's not cool, it kills brain cells, ... it makes your lungs a mess."

Participants also hoped to send a message to their classmates.

"I hope it encourages some of them to quit," said senior Holly Price, 17, who said she quit smoking about five months ago. "It probably won't get them to quit altogether. ... I hope they get some knowledge so that at some point in their life they can say, this is not something I want to do."

Inside, students handed out a tobacco quiz listing several statistics.

About half of smokers will end up dying from a smoking-related illness, according to the American Cancer Society.

The event was part of the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the state Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control and Thurston County's Together.

Timberline High School also recognized the event. About 45 youths wore black T-shirts that read, "If tomorrow I wasn't here, Would You Miss Me?" They placed mock coffins around campus with a mirror inside and the message "It could be you." Morning announcements included tobacco facts.

Trying to quit

Many of the participants at South Sound High were students who smoke but have tried multiple times to quit.

Sophomore Heather Villamil, 16, said she started smoking at 11, wanting to emulate her mother. Now she has cut back to a few cigarettes a day and vowed to quit.

Her sign read: "My Doctor says if I don't stop smoking I'll get cancer by the time I'm 17."

"Cancer has been in my family," she said. "I would rather stop now while I have the chance, rather than wait till I get it."

She said that when she feels the urge to smoke, she goes for a walk or chews gum.

Junior Delysia Webb, 17, also is trying to quit, mainly so she can be a good role model to her younger siblings, 3 and 5.

"They look up to older people around them, and they absorb everything," she said.

Patty May, the school's prevention and intervention specialist, said the school offers a smoking-cessation group where participants learn techniques for quitting and offer support and strategies for relapses.

May also tries to provide activities at lunch to keep students from going to the pit to smoke.

"There's this temptation to think, 'This isn't the most dangerous drug.' People think, 'I can quit later, when life isn't as stressful.' Well, when is life not stressful?" she said. "I'm excited about planting the seed that they need to stop. It's a bad drug."

Diane Huber covers the city of Lacey and its urban growth area for Lacey Today. She can be reached at 360-357-0204 or dhuber@theolympian.com.