March 25, 2010

Maxwell students help kick butts

By John Lindenberger

On Wednesday, students throughout the country participated in some 2,000 demonstrations in an effort to alert the public to the methods tobacco companies use to target children in their marketing campaigns.

The demonstrations were all part of a national campaign called Kick Butts Day. In North Platte, a group of about 14 students from Maxwell Public School held up posters and wore shirts with various anti-tobacco messages.

Jerlyn Hohnholt, who is the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Maxwell Public Schools, said this was the same group of students that organized a demonstration for Kick Butts Day in 2008.

At that time, the students stood outside the school, sharing their anti-tobacco message with those traveling along Highway 30. Hohnholt said they decided they wanted to do something again this year.

So the students applied for and received a $200 mini grant from the youth advocacy organization known as No Limits. The students used the funds to design T-shirts and posters with anti-tobacco messages.

"We kind of covered our van with posters," Hohnholt said about Wednesday's demonstration.

The students stood along the one-ways in North Platte near the intersection of William Avenue, dancing to attract the attention of those driving by.

"What they did was awesome," said Bonnie Kruse, who is the Lincoln County Tobacco Coalition Coordinator.

She said these students are amazing leaders and advocates who are taking a stand against the tobacco industry. She feels it is important to get youth involved because this is the group that the tobacco industry is targeting.

"They target kids who are as young as 3 and 4 years old," Kruse said. "When a youth starts smoking, the average age is 10 or 11."

Kruse said she is excited to see these youth getting involved in the fight against tobacco because she feels that the message is sometimes received better than it might be coming from adults.

"When it's coming from youth and they're advocating for a healthy lifestyle and their raising awareness of how they're unfairly targeted, I think it makes people really stop and pay attention and really listen to what they're saying," she added.

See the entire article at: NPTelegraph.com