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Carol Loftfield - Nondalton, BIRCH Member

Kick Butts Day had finally arrived...the Jr. High students were nervous but excited. They had been planning, discussing and practicing their Tobacco Free lesson for months. Their Tobacco Free Club T-shirts had arrived...the students had created their own design for the back of their shirts, a wonderful lake scene with a lone loon swimming, birds flying over head and a rainbow streaking down snowcapped mountains. Their design had been enhanced by an artistic team at the printers, and the students had even received a letter from the team thanking them for their inspiring design. Happy day...the shirts fit great, and the kids loved them. Everyone knew their parts; the practice demonstrations had gone well, and the lesson's closing chant, "Please be smart, says your heart, smoking is something you shouldn't start!" was stuck in their heads like glue. Kick Butts Day had arrived in full style.

With a flurry of excitement the little ones started filing into the classroom. The Jr. High students had settled on the floor in a circle with spaces on either side of them, for their buddies-to-be to fill in. Larina, the tobacco club secretary, introduced herself and the club started their lesson. The club members and their buddies discussed reasons to stay away from smoke and then took turns listing the reasons on the board. Next Larina rolled a small orange ball to the other side of the circle and stated a reason why she wanted to stay away from smoke. Each person took a turn rolling the ball to another. We heard about cancer, black lungs, shortness of breath, yellow teeth, death and so forth. We talked about how the tar collects in the lungs; how the little cilia get sticky from the tar and can't function; how the lungs can't expand and a person gets shortness of breath. Then we went outside to do the Cotton Ball, Smoke and Tar Demonstration. Wow! were the little ones amazed; the cotton balls that had collected the tar were all sticky and hard, not squishy and soft like normal. This was so exciting we did the demonstration twice! (See pictures in Photo Gallery.)

Once again inside, it was our club president Danielle's turn to lead. This time we wanted to help the little one's understand from a visceral perspective what it would be like to have the shortness of breath that smokers experience. She passed out straws and had everyone first run in place for thirty seconds breathing normally. Next we did the exercise with a straw in our mouths and pinching our noses. The restricted air from the straw was all we got while running in place. Even before the end of thirty seconds, people were quitting because it was so hard. We felt a little sick to our stomachs and some felt a little dizzy. What a great demonstration! Everyone talked excitedly about how hard it would be to play sports and how awful it would be to not run and play like normal.

Geronimo led a discussion about the dangers of second hand smoke. He talked about how one in twenty deaths from tobacco are from second hand smoke alone. Everyone took turns talking about ways that they would avoid second hand smoke. Tia and Shantel took over and introduced our wonderful chant. We sat in the group, drummed on our legs and chanted. Then we stood in two lines, each club member facing their buddy and started the chant again. This time we chanted the lines back and forth, each side seeing who could chant louder. We laughed and clapped and then ended our lesson with a commitment: each pair of buddies would help each other over the years to STAY AWAY FROM SMOKE! We took pictures and laughed a lot. I'd say the highlight for me was hearing the little ones after school chanting, "Please be smart, says your heart...

The next day we celebrated! Now our daily wellness activities have incorporated a new choice: drumming, with spoons for percussion, and chanting, "Please be smart, says your heart, smoking is something you shouldn't start!" It's pretty catchy and just sticks at the back of the mind. In Nondalton, Kick Butts Day arrived and departed. But for some of us, with our tobacco lesson and catchy chant, the meaning of the day will stay for years to come.