Eighty-six students from throughout Schuylkill County attended a Teens Against Tobacco program at the Salvation Army Building on Friday morning.
The annual program prepares about 15 students from each area school with educational material so they can give their own anti-smoking presentation to elementary classrooms in their district.
"We have been doing this a long time and the participating students have had friends that were involved in the program," Angela Morgan, director of the Schuylkill County Tobacco-Free Youth Coalition, said. "Some of the members have said that they wanted to participate in the program because they remember when the older students came to their classrooms in elementary school."
Morgan said teenagers find it easier to relate to the message when it is their peers talking to them.
"The younger kids look up to them. They have a real power over them and can really make a difference," Morgan said.
During the program, students made posters and a "tar jar" for their presentations. A tar jar contains material that looks like tobacco buildup in lungs. Students then talked about their posters to the other groups. Morgan said TAT members will give their presentations at the elementary schools before the end of the year.
The program was organized by the Clinical Outcomes Group Inc. in collaboration with the Schuylkill County Tobacco-Free Youth Coalition, Benevolent Association of Pottsville and Giant food stores in Pottsville and Cressona. The program was supported by the Health Promotion Council and funded through a grant from the state Department of Health.
Participating students were ages 13 through 18 and included eighth-graders through high school seniors. Schools included Mahanoy Area, North Schuylkill, Minersville, Pottsville Area's D.H.H. Lengel Middle School, Tamaqua Area and St. Nicholas School.
Angela Morgan, a health educator at Clinical Outcomes Group Inc., said the program has been an annual event for students since 1998.
Stacia Brezinski, a youth activism coordinator with Forget Tobacco, drove all the way from Maine to talk to the students about the power of youth influence.
"Although the facts are very important, young people respond more to the influence of their peers. It's about showing them how great a tobacco-free lifestyle is," Brezinski, 20, said Friday. "Tobacco companies spend $10 billion a year on advertising. We don't need that money to connect with the youth. Advertising is powerful but we have an even stronger influence over the youth."
Nick McBreen and Lauren Hunyara, seniors from Minersville Area High School, took part in the program Friday. McBreen has been involved in TAT for four years and Hunyara has been involved for two years.
"It gets the word out about the harms of tobacco so we have a good group of kids coming up in the school," McBreen said. "They listen to their teachers every day so when other kids are talking to them, it is a little different and has more of an impact."
Hunyara also said it is important to teach the younger students how dangerous tobacco really is.
"The kids look up to you," Hunyara said.
Marian Lech, a community health nurse with the state Department of Health, also spoke to the students about tobacco products, trends and health harms. Christy Nemeth, a public health educator with the state Department of Health, talked about the students reaching a younger audience at their schools with a tobacco-free message.
Barb Bieber, a senior health initiatives representative with the American Cancer Society in Berks County, talked about how students can be advocates of a tobacco-free policy in the media and community.
State Sen. David Argall, R-29, also had a few words with students before they were dismissed about 1:30 p.m.