Tar Wars warns kids smoking is not cool
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More than merely a “don’t smoke, it’s bad for you” lecture, Tar Wars is an interactive program designed to increase knowledge of the effects of tobacco and to help students think critically about tobacco advertising.
School system nurse Sheila Cantrell, who will be teaching the program along with fellow nurse Jill Brock, says the Tar Wars approach is more effective than traditional lecture approaches, which is why the system has been using the program for the past two years.
During the hour-long, classroom programs, students at Dibrell, Morrison and Centertown schools will learn results of tobacco use, which in addition to health risks, include smelly clothes, yellow teeth and fingers, brad breath, coughing and hacking and difficulty breathing. In learning the latter two, Cantrell said one of the program’s exercises will have students engage in a simulation showing them how smokers feel when they’re out of breath.
The ever-increasing cost of smoking will also be stressed. Learned by the students will be the weekly, monthly and yearly costs of tobacco use, as well as other ways to better spend their money.
Students will also be taught that image and peer pressure tactics used to portray tobacco use as a key to obtaining romance, good looks, popularity or a macho image are a myths of the tobacco advertising industry, rather than fact.
Students will also be encouraged to participate in a tobacco awareness and prevention poster contest. Under the supervision of art teacher Carrie Stotts, the contest is sponsored by the Warren County Teen Health Council.