Students Get Vocal Against Smoking

November 22, 1996|By LORI CROUCH and BERENICE CHAUVET Staff Writers

The children at Sandpiper Shores Elementary School screamed their lungs out and stomped their feet on Thursday - and their teachers encouraged them.

It was a rather primal way of celebrating the first Great American Scream Out, children's answer to the Great American Smoke Out. Schools across Palm Beach County participated, although some turned to other alternatives.

Fourth-grade teacher Andre Mogilevsky bellowed through a megaphone to the school's 1,200 students, each grade representing a group of animals.

"All you third-graders are monkeys and apes, and scream out those cigarettes!" he called. They screamed so loud, they clapped their hands over their ears as they squealed.

Anti-smoking organizations are now focusing their efforts on elementary school children because they say it's too late by the time a student reaches high school and has already started smoking.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that about 3,000 American children start smoking every year and the majority are younger than 14.

Activists such as Sheila Jaffe, lobbyist for the Tobacco Free Coalition of South Palm Beach County, say the tobacco industry deliberately targets youngsters. Despite the controversy over studies that showed Joe Camel was popular among children, he's still prevalent on billboards and in advertising, she said.

"They seem to be doing it more than ever," Jaffe said. "Most kids believe they look older and they'll be able to quit after they get out of high school. But 75 percent are still smoking. It's a combination of effective advertising, peer pressure and parents. And it's hard to stop."

The American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and the Palm Beach Medical Society joined forces to form the Tobacco-Free Coalition and provide a curriculum during "Brown Ribbon Week," with activities all week. Fourth-graders Jonathan Small and Ricky Powell are taking the message seriously. They stomped on fake "cigarettes," - rubber blue and yellow tubes - to illustrate their dislike for smoking.

"I think it's a bad habit. I wouldn't like anybody to start because they get addicted and then they die," said Ricky, 10. Jonathan is even trying to persuade his teen-age sister to give up smoking, he said. So is Michael Shapiro, 11, who found matches and cigarettes in his sister's purse.

"I hate her but I don't want her to die," he said.

Not all schools participated in the scream out portion of the anti-tobacco campaign this week. For example, Banyan Creek Elementary in Delray Beach instead held an assembly.

Lorraine Cornnell, a Banyan Creek fifth-grade teacher, said the school passed on the screaming part after consulting with teachers who found it irrelevant.

"We are not telling kids to go yell at their parents who smoke," she said. "The purpose is to make that decision for yourself."

Berkshire Elementary Principal John Stevens also said other activities are more to the point than screaming out against tobacco.

Some children smoke in elementary school, but not many, Stevens said.

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