Teens teach fourth-graders to say no to nicotine

POST FALLS — Two pig lungs dangled from a display.

One was bright pink and exuded the color of health. The other was ashy and black, an exemplary representation of the carcinogenic effects smoking has on human lungs.

"It was weird," fourth-grader Loren Johnson, 10, said after feeling the pig lungs with his gloved hand. "The red one was kind of like a steak and it was soft and squishy. The black one was hard, like decaying."

The pig lung exhibit was one of many highlights about 70 Seltice Elementary School fourth-graders surely talked about the rest of the day Thursday following an interactive Teens Against Tobacco Use demonstration in the school's gym.

As part of the TATU program, facilitated by the American Lung Association, three teenage mentors from North Idaho College and New Vision High School educated their young peers about the dangers, consequences and overall long- and short-term health problems accompanying tobacco use.

New Vision junior Gabe Frazier, 18, presented a large model of a human mouth that was stained and damaged by smokeless tobacco. He called the prop "Mr. Gross Mouth" and the fourth-graders sounded a collective "eeeww" when he and his colleagues passed it around for them to see up close.

"What do you guys think will happen if you get tongue cancer?" Frazier asked them. "If you get tongue cancer, doctors will remove your tongue because of cancerous tumors and stuff."

He asked the students to pinch their tongues and say their names three times as a demonstration to show them what it would be like to live without a tongue. "Smoking is not cool, it really isn’t," he said. "It’s dangerous and could change your life forever."

The fourth-graders flooded the TATU trio with questions, including: "How much tobacco is in one cigarette?" "Is smoke from a campfire bad for you?" "Is marijuana bad for you?" "What happens if you eat an entire cigarette?" "Is it better if your parents smoke outside instead of inside?"

"They’re paying attention," said Karen Ashenbrenner, TATU program coordinator. "These kids are really, really intrigued."

TATU is a program that trains teenage students to teach their young peers about the negative effects of tobacco use. It is statewide, but Ashenbrenner said it is fairly new in North Idaho. She and four other coordinators organize the presentations across the state, especially in rural areas, so the older students can have a positive impact on the younger students.

"We fail miserably" as a state when it comes to tobacco prevention and control, she said.

"Our goal is to encourage kids at an early age to make good, healthy choices, to realize and understand the long and short-term effects of tobacco," Ashenbrenner continued. "All these kids have questions. It’s happening at home and they're subjected to second- and third-hand smoke. Parents don’t realize the danger that they’re putting their kids in when they do that in the house."

Seltice fourth-grade teacher Trista Lynn said she was shocked to learn from Ashenbrenner that the average age kids start smoking is 12.

"They are all turning 10 this year, so that’s really close," she said. "I really wanted them to hear all this."

Lynn said some of the students know a bit about smoking from having smokers in their families, but many had not been exposed to the truth behind the habit. She said she loved how the teenagers presented the information to the younger ones because of how elementary schoolers look up to high schoolers.

"We didn’t have a lot of that when I was in school," she said. "I think it’s great that they’re hearing older kids saying how wrong tobacco is, because that was a big influence when I was young. Older kids were all doing it so you wanted to fit in with them.

"I hope that it deters them from smoking and thinking that it’s cool," she added. "I think knowledge is better. I don’t think ignorance is bliss. I think when they know how bad it can hurt you that’s better for them."

Frazier said he hopes the presentation helps instill healthy habits in the fourth-graders and that they will talk to their parents about what they learned. He said knowing he may have helped prevent a youth from smoking or at least educate them to make better choices feels "pretty darn good."

"It makes me feel like the future's going to be a little bit brighter," he said.

To have a TATU presentation at your school or venue, contact Ashenbrenner at kashenbrenner@yahoo.com.