A small group of South Callaway and New Bloomfield high school students talked to one another as they drew a smile filled with rotten teeth onto the face of a pretty girl. The drawing was their idea for counter advertising that promotes being tobacco-free.
Jillian Potts, South Callaway sophomore, said the ad was meant to show what tobacco ads don't. Tobacco ads often picture pretty girls, Potts said. So her group drew a pretty girl with a "messed up smile and bad teeth."
"We drew a pretty girl with a not so pretty smile," Potts said.
They wrote the tag-line, "Maybe it's Marlboro" on their poster.
The counter advertising was one of a day's worth of activities at the Making Our Mark II training Wednesday morning. Making Our Mark II is an initiative of the Tobacco Free Missouri Youth Advocacy Board, which has held training sessions throughout Missouri over the course of the past year.
Alyssa Bradley, New Bloomfield junior, helped lead the training. She is also a co-founder and member of a state board called Tobacco Free Missouri Youth Advocacy Board. The board was started in 2012 by a group of students at a national tobacco-free conference, Bradley said. Students apply to be on the board, which tries to choose youth from all over the state.
Bradley said she first got involved in the tobacco-free Smokebusters program. South Callaway High School Guidance Counselor Lindsey Even said Making Our Mark II training picks up where the Smokebusters tobacco-free program left off.
Bradley said she was drawn to the program because she wanted to help teach others about the negative effects of tobacco use.
"I got involved in Smokebusters at my school because I wanted to learn about it and I wanted to educate my peers," she said.
Bradley said her dad used to smoke and is currently using e-cigarettes to wean himself off of tobacco completely. She said she thinks the Making Our Mark II program has been effective in teaching students more facts about tobacco use.
Potts said she thought she knew a lot about tobacco but learned even more. She said the training went through all of the chemicals in cigarettes as well as the
chemicals in e-cigarettes, which she found interesting.
"In electronic cigarettes, there's just as many (chemicals) and they say they are better for you and they're really not. They are just as bad," Potts said. "It's just as bad but in a different way."
Callaway County Health Department Director Sharon Lynch said the Making Our Mark II program is funded through a federal grant. The health department acts as the fiduciary of the grant and purchases the supplies for the training. She said they do what they can to help local school groups participate.
The students, Lynch said, are the ones who facilitate the program, which she said allows for more specific training.
"They can individualize it to their community (and school)," Lynch said.
She added that the students involved in Wednesday's training were enthusiastic about learning more and educating others. Making our Mark II, she said, teaches students how to be peer counselors for their fellow students.
"Beyond learning about tobacco, they are getting life skills," Lynch said. "It's really great."
Kurtis Wiegand, New Bloomfield sixth grade math and science teacher, has been the adviser for the district's National Junior Honor Society - which
participated in the training Wednesday - for two years.
In the past, New Bloomfield has held 5Ks, carnivals and other events to educate students in the district about tobacco's effects. Wiegand said he thinks awareness initiatives such as those work. He added that he enjoys seeing students lead those initiatives and show passion for educating their peers.
"You can see the effort," Wiegand said. "And to see that drive in them is exciting for me and it helps with prevention."
New Bloomfield's campus is tobacco-free. Even said South Callaway schools implemented a tobacco-free campus policy last summer, starting with the 2014-15 school year.
Potts said she recommends the Making our Mark II training.
"It was really interesting," Potts said. "Even if you think you know a lot or if you think you know absolutely nothing it was set up to help any range of people."
Lynch said there will be a regional tobacco-free program in early March that will be open to students from multiple counties. Any schools interested in learning more about the regional training conference in March can contact Lynch at (573) 642-6881 ext. 223.