TEEN SUMMIT Program illustrates dangers of tobacco

About 75 local pupils attended the 'Cancer Chamber of Horrors' program.
POLAND -- Alex Estell offers a jar holding two cups of light green phlegm to another understandably reluctant teenager, explaining that this is what comes out of the lungs of someone with "smoker's cough" each day.
"Well, really it's just hair gel," the 15-year-old from East Liverpool finally admits.
But he's gotten the point across in a session called the "Cancer Chamber of Horrors," part of the educational program at the fourth annual Teen Tobacco Summit of Active Students Against Tobacco, held Saturday at Poland Middle School.
About 75 middle school and high school pupils from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties attended the event, designed to educate teens about the dangers of tobacco use. School officials and tobacco educators from area health departments also attended.
School problem
Pupils at the summit were nearly unanimous in the opinion that tobacco use at their school was a problem.
"At my school the bathrooms are disgusting, there's so much smoke," said Boardman High student Carrie Drummond. "I've talked to guidance counselors and asked what we can do."
Darla Conti, 15, said her school had another kind of tobacco problem.
"At my school, a lot of guys chew," the Struthers High student said.
And for others, the smoking issue literally hits home.
"I have asthma and I can't stand it," 16-year-old Jeremy First of Struthers said. "My whole family smokes and I just have to leave the room."
All these problems, and more, were subjects of the workshops, led entirely by pupils.
The "Chamber of Horrors," with its demonstrations of the physical effects of smoking, made a big impression.
Jeb, a cigarette-smoking robot operated by Beaver Local High student Kristin Hanna, puffs smoke and tar into a plastic bag -- outside, of course -- to illustrate what gets into a smoker's lungs from a single cigarette. It drew a few "ews" from the pupils.
But the fake phlegm and a blackened, rubbery simulated smoker's lung that pupils were invited to feel sent some pupils running to the restroom to wash their hands.
"We're just trying to tell them how gross smoking is, and how dangerous it is," Estell said.
While other sessions weren't quite as graphic, they showed pupils how they could discourage others from smoking and make their schools smoke-free.
New Age-style music played in the background as Tara Jo Carano from Brookfield High and LaBrae student Emily Harper led a workshop on stress reduction.
They asked the teenagers to think about what causes stress in their lives -- from grades and parents to relationships with the opposite sex -- and how they deal with it. The message: Smoking doesn't help.
In another workshop, pupils participated in skits designed to promote tobacco-free schools. The workshop leaders also encouraged activism, including contacting the press, school board members and other school leaders about the issue.
"Everybody knows that smoking isn't good for you, but in a lot of schools nobody is putting any initiative behind it," said Ashley Pew, 17, a student at Austintown Fitch High. "We want kids to step up and do something."
Smokeless
The problems caused by smokeless tobacco were the subject of another workshop aimed at debunking the myth that chewing tobacco and snuff are safe alternatives to cigarettes. The ties between sports and this form of tobacco use were highlighted in the session.
All pupils were encouraged at the close of the program to "take a stand against tobacco," the motto of a statewide program of the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation. Pupils received bracelets with "53K" emblazoned on them, for the 53,000 people nationwide who die from the effects of second-hand smoke each year.
The summit is just part of the ongoing efforts at tobacco education by local schools and health departments, said Mel Milliron, a tobacco educator for the Trumbull County Health Department. Pupils will help organize followup events around the area.
Gina Ross, also a tobacco educator for the Trumbull County Health Department, said the program is a success if it can persuade teenagers to urge others, both at school and at home, not to use tobacco.
"We want them not to smoke," she said. "But we also want them to tell others that it's bad. We want them to be educated so they can bring the message to their communities and their households."