Last Thursday, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade University School students participated in the “Great American Smokeout” day, the kick-off event for the school’s anti-smoking initiative.
The year-long education program, which administrators hope will be a permanent component of the school’s curriculum, includes activities such as studying the history of smoking in America, discussing the significance of tobacco to Tennessee agriculture, examining the composition of cigarettes, studying the adverse physiological effects of smoking, critiquing cigarette advertising and administering surveys to peers.
“We want our students to become activists,” said April Blakely, middle school coordinator of the University School. “We want to encourage them to make the life-long commitment to not smoke.”
As part of the curriculum that Blakely and others are developing, the anti-smoking message will be integrated into the objectives of several courses.
In their math classes, middle school students will use data from the second-hand smoke surveys to plot graphs using Excel spreadsheets.
In addition, english classes will produce PowerPoint presentations germane to smoking education.
“We want to use all our resources and technology in this curriculum and to incorporate it into our teaching objectives, and eventually distribute it to other schools” Blakely said.
Another goal of this program is to provide students with service learning opportunities.
Blakely and the middle school teaching team plan on developing skits which students will perform for other schools.
“They’re really excited about some of the projects,” Blakely said.
The curriculum will also include guest speakers such as health care professionals and the development of a web forum through which students can get feedback from experts.
“It (anti-smoking education) is so important,” Blakely said. “Ninety percent of smokers begin smoking before the age of 18, so this is a critical time for them to learn about the dangers.”

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