BICKLETON -- This spring, the sophomores of Bickleton High School -- a total of 10 students -- got on a bus and traveled to Yakima to attend a Teens Against Tobacco Use program at the Education Service District 105 office.
The training was part of their health class.
Darrell Lang, 53, the health teacher at Bickleton High School, has been incorporating T.A.T.U. in his health curriculum for four years now.
T.A.T.U. is a tobacco awareness program aimed at educating high school students about the negative effects tobacco can have on the user. It teaches students how to take their knowledge back to their schools and present what they know to younger students. After attending training, students create presentations that are then presented to elementary school students.
"It's a unique opportunity for the teens to bring their own style into their presentations and bring (the information) to the kids," says 36-year-old Hailey Croci, a T.A.T.U. program coordinator. She has been involved with T.A.T.U., an American Lung Association peer education program, for seven years.
Dan Smith, the 41-year-old control manager for T.A.T.U., says the program works because "kids look up to teenagers and they want to be that age and they want to be able to do what teens do."
"If they see teens smoke, they'll smoke," he says. "And if they don't see teens smoking, neither will they."
During the training, the students split into two groups. One stayed with Croci and learned about tobacco and the media, including how much people associate colors, designs and word fonts with certain brands as well as how tobacco companies direct advertising toward younger people with flavored tobacco and ad content.
The other group went with Smith and practiced giving a presentation to peers, who then gave constructive criticism about how well they did.
The presentations are visual ways to convey the harmful effects of tobacco. One involved two sets of pig lungs: a healthy, pink set and another that represented smokers' lungs. It was discolored, shriveled, hardened and had tumors.
Another presentation involved something called the chemical box. The box contained things that have similar chemicals as cigarettes.
Now that the T.A.T.U. training is finished, Bickleton sophomores are set to give their presentations. The students were expected to speak to elementary and junior high students by early May.
* For more information about the T.A.T.U. program, visit the American Lung Association Web site at www.lungusa.org.
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