For our project, we decided to better help our community by going to the only two middle schools in our town and spending two and a half hours there around their lunch hour presenting to them. We decided to present to middle schoolers as they are the target group for cigarette companies. Middle school is also often when people try smoking for the first time. To prevent the kids from trying even one cigarette we presented them information on various poisons and toxic chemicals found in cigarettes. We also brought in various household products such as bleach, cleaning supplies, rubber cement, and moth balls to further show what chemicals are in cigarettes (some chemicals we left out for our second presentation as they were making us sick).
To present this information to the kids we set up a booth, with the administrations approval, and placed various household supplies, as mentioned above, on the table. The kids seemed shocked by our presentation, and almost all of them agreed to sign our pledge to stay smoke free. The kids stayed at our booth longer than we anticipated, they shared their personal stories with us on how cigarettes affected their lives. It was really interesting to hear how almost every student had a family member who either smoked, or suffered from the after effects of smoking. We heard about grandparents dying and parents smoking in front of their kids, thus the kids themselves suffering from the harmful effects of second hand smoking, It was very humbling and eye opening.
To present this information to the kids we set up a booth, with the administrations approval, and placed various household supplies, as mentioned above, on the table. The kids seemed shocked by our presentation, and almost all of them agreed to sign our pledge to stay smoke free. The kids stayed at our booth longer than we anticipated, they shared their personal stories with us on how cigarettes affected their lives. It was really interesting to hear how almost every student had a family member who either smoked, or suffered from the after effects of smoking. We heard about grandparents dying and parents smoking in front of their kids, thus the kids themselves suffering from the harmful effects of second hand smoking, It was very humbling and eye opening.