Educating 7th-12th Graders: Tobacco Prevention with Activism and Advocacy:

Educating 7^th-12^th Graders:  Tobacco Prevention with Activism and Advocacy:

Audience: This workshop would be useful for teachers, school nurses, community leaders, and any mentor who works in prevention at a local or statewide level. This workshop will provide innovated ways and lessons learned working with youth in 7^th-12^th grades on tobacco prevention and advocacy.

Key Points: Generation FREE is Mississippi's youth-led movement against Big Tobacco. FREE is fueled by teens across the state, and allows young people to creatively express themselves through activism and advocacy.

Vital components of Generation FREE:

FREE Teams

 

Youth Advisory Board

Regional Youth Leadership Conferences

Guerrilla style marketing events that reaches youth where they are, like the mall and sporting events.

Contests and Media which reach youth in innovative ways to ensure they are equipped with the tools and information to make healthy decisions.

FREE has reached over 140,000 teenagers reducing the number of current high school smokers 30.3 % in 1998 to 19.7% in 2010. Middle school numbers have reduced from 20.6% in 1998 to 5.7% in 2010, according to the YTS.

Educational Experience: In this interactive workshop the participant will see samples of the performances, contests, lesson plans and media. Lessons learned from implementing this program for over 10 years will be discussed. Participants can have samples and ideas to implement in their communities.

Benefits: During this session, participants will identify and recognize

ways to reach youth in 7^th-12^th grades with layering of messages and ways to implement activities in their own communities.