Collaborating with the Manhasset Middle School Physical Education and Science Departments, Molloy College’s Nursing Program, Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island, the Manhasset SCA and Manhasset CASA’s Youth Committee, Manhasset Secondary School celebrated healthy living during its annual Health and Wellness Week celebration. Students participated in educational fairs, presentations along with a new student initiative – Teens as Teachers as part of the nation’s annual Kick Butts Day Tobacco Prevention Day.
Kick Butts Day, celebrated on Wednesday, March 26th, is celebrated annually across our nation and is organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as a day of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco. The campaign seeks to provided outreach by teens to encourage their peers to stay tobacco-free and educate their communities about the tobacco industry’s harmful marketing practices.
CASA’s Youth Committee student members, in coordination with Manhasset’s Science Department and the Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island, developed a “push-in” 7th grade Science Class lesson about the dangerous impact e-cigarettes has on the mind and body along with the effect tobacco marketing has on them as consumers.
Each of the 7th grade science classes were able to ask CASA’s Teens as Teachers questions and receive answers about persuasive marketing strategies, social media, smoking regulations, and much more! Science Class Students were awarded prizes by CASA for their outstanding anti-smoking posters after they learned about the dangerous impact of e-cigarettes on the mind and body. CASA’s Youth committee students felt very grateful and honored to be part of Kick Butts Day and its exciting events, describing the experience as “inspiring” and “eye-opening.”
During Physical Education classes, 7th, 8th and 9th grade students participated in Molloy College’s Nursing Program Health Fair where students visited interactive healthy living booths and signed banners and postcards “We’ve Had Enough” from the Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island. Manhasset SCA Health and Wellness Committee members provided students with information regarding the importance of hydration and the detrimental effect sugary drinks has on their bodies. Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, a strong supporter of Manhasset CASA’s prevention mission, was on hand to support the prevention of youth exposure to marketing of tobacco and e-cigarette products.
As part of CASA’s Health and Wellness Week, Dr. Stephen Dewey also provided all 7th and 8th grade students his This is Your Teen Brain presentation where he talked about how nicotine, alcohol and drugs affect their teen brain. Students actively asked many questions as Dr. Dewey shared what he sees everyday through his research at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at North Shore LIJ Hospital.
For more information about Kick Butts Day go to kickbuttsday.org or visit manhassetcasa.org.
