‘TarWars’ program used to educate on tobacco use

Many educators have learned that getting creative to make a point is usually an effective method of teaching, and Russellville City Schools’ Safe and Drug Free Schools counselor, Nancy Cooper, has found creative ways to get her message across as well.
Cooper, who teaches students about the dangerous effects of drug, alcohol and tobacco use, recently presented a special program to fifth grade students at Russellville Elementary School called “Tar Wars,” which is a tobacco-free education program from the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Cooper said she presented two 30-minutes classes that show the dangerous and deadly effects of tobacco use and illustrate through activities the long- and short-term effects each student would have to deal with if he or she chose to use tobacco products in the future.
“I’ve found that the exercises we do that illustrate the short-term effects like stinky breath or having your hair and clothes smell bad are what seem to register with these students the most,” Cooper said. “At this age, they don’t want to do anything that would make them uncool or unpopular with the rest of their classmates. Hopefully as they get older, they will remember this exercise and how unattractive smoking can be and they’ll think twice before using cigarettes or smokeless tobacco.”
Cooper said they also discuss the high cost of using tobacco and the statistics that show that not as many people use cigarettes or other tobacco products as much as they might think.
“I have the students guess at how many people their age use tobacco products,” Cooper said. “They usually guess really high, which is good because then they can see that not so many people engage in those activities. Hopefully if they’re ever put in a peer pressure situation, they can think back to this activity and remember that not ‘everybody’ is doing it like some people would have them believe.”
Even though the short-term effects seem to register the most right now, Cooper said they still discuss the long-term effects of tobacco use like cancer, gum disease and other health issues.
“Students who want to participate are given a straw and asked to breathe through the straw for 30 seconds,” Cooper said. “Then we ask them to jog in place while still breathing through the straw. This shows them the diminished lung capacity many people who smoke end up having and it really puts it in perspective.”
This is the fourth year Cooper has presented the “Tar Wars” program and she said the students still seem to be responding to it.
“I don’t ever want to smoke cigarettes,” fifth grader Hanna Patton said. “We saw pictures f what it can do to your lungs and I don’t want my lungs to look like that.”