Posted: Mar. 27, 2018 12:01 am
HAMPTON — Numerous students at Kittatinny Regional High School pledged to refrain from using tobacco and other drug products as part of the school’s celebration of “Kick Butts Day” against smoking Friday morning.
Throughout the lunch periods in the junior high cafeteria, high-schoolers encouraged the seventh- and eighth-grade students to sign their names on a pledge banner provided by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, signifying their intent to stay away from harmful substances. Other materials like stickers, bracelets, and pins were available for the students to take as another way to promote an overall clean lifestyle.
The initiative, one of several events scheduled in schools throughout the state, was originally slated for Wednesday — the nationwide Kick Butts Day — but was moved to Friday because of the latest winter storm.
Student assistance counselor Vicki Recenello helped organize the event as a way to educate students at the school about the harmful effects of tobacco. She explained that the overall rate of adolescents who smoke is decreasing, but teenagers are now turning to other dangerous substances instead.
“Even though Kick Butts Day was intentionally started to sort of aim toward just tobacco, it’s also addressing e-cigarettes and vaping as well, so anti-smoking in general,” Recenello said. “A lot of students think that only tobacco is bad for you, and they don’t realize that the liquid that’s in vapes and e-cigarettes also has a lot of the same chemicals that are in tobacco cigarettes.”
Many of the high-schoolers helping Recenello Friday have participated in the Lindsey Meyer Teen Institute, a drug- and alcohol-free summer camp that teaches leadership skills to students so they can make others aware of how these substances can be harmful, especially to teenagers.
Junior Autumn Kilduff, one attendee of the camp, has been involved with anti-drug campaigns at the high school since her freshman year. She feels that having these types of conversations with students early in their school careers can be more valuable and effective.
“I think it’s important because a lot of younger kids don’t realize the consequences (of tobacco). They just want to do the cool thing,” Kilduff said.
By educating students before they become more likely to develop bad habits, she added, “it’s able to help stop the problem before it becomes a real issue.”
Isabel Babio, a freshman, shared Kilduff’s belief that younger students are generally more receptive to the anti-tobacco message.
“Normally, what (people) do in their teenage years is what they learn when they’re younger, what you’ve been taught from a really young age,” Babio said. “They’re not in high school yet, but they’ll kind of start to learn what’s right and what’s wrong.”
The two high school students both thought Kittatinny’s Kick Butts Day event was an overall success, as evidenced by the number of seventh- and eighth-grade student signatures filling the large banner by the end of the lunch periods.
“They want to get the little prizes, so it’s kind of like an incentive to sign the poster and kind of learn what it’s about more,” Babio said. “So I think it’s really good that they’re participating in it.”
Added Kilduff, “It makes me really happy to see that the younger generation is listening to us.”
Kyle Morel can also be conacted on Twitter: @KMorelNJH, on Facebook: Facebook.com/KMorelNJH, or by phone: 973-383-1292.
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