FAMU participates in Kick Butts Day

FAMU students participating in Kick Butts Day.
Photo credit: Ila Wilborn

 

The School of Allied Health Sciences at FAMU invited students to participate in Kick Butts Day Thursday. The event was sponsored by the American Cancer Society’s Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative and the CVS Health Foundation.

“On Kick Butts Day, teachers, youth leaders and health advocates organize events to raise awareness of the problem of tobacco use in their state or community; encourage youth to reject the tobacco industry's deceptive marketing and stay tobacco-free; and urge elected officials to take action to protect kids from tobacco,” the day’s official website said.

The Florida Department of Health in Leon County also took part. Crystall Robinson, Health Educator and SWAT Coordinator, said, “We’re big on tobacco prevention and there are some declining rates of smoking in the state of Florida, but we want to continue that progress and let the community know that we are here as a resource.”

FAMU faculty member and event coordinator, Kandy Woods explained, “We’re out here today to promote a tobacco smoke-free policy for Florida A&M University. We do not have, written, a tobacco and smoke free policy, and it’s 100 percent no tobacco or smoke products. You’ve got to think about chewing tobacco, it doesn't produce smoke, but its tobacco. So that's why you want a policy that says no tobacco and smoke,” she said.

The event was majorly student run, with the help of faculty and sponsors.

“I’m faculty in the School of Allied Health Sciences, so the School of Allied Health Sciences is helping the university to push this policy. I'm in cardiopulmonary science, which I produce students to become respiratory therapists. So my students have a real dedicated passion about healthy lungs,” Woods said.

Among educational tables, the event featured music, free prizes and games.

Amara Lewis, a former student and recruit of the Florida Department of Health, oversaw “Strike Out Tobacco,” a game of inflated bowling that educates the player on the types of chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

 “There are over 7,000 of them,” Lewis said as she described the object of the game. “We have Cadmium, which is the active component in battery acid. And we have Ambergris, which is whale feces and vomit.”

Kick Butts Day is an annual national initiative held March 21; however, it can be celebrated throughout the year.

“While Kick Butts Day is officially held on one day each year, our hope is that every day will be Kick Butts Day in the fight against tobacco,” the official website said.