Tobacco Grant Activities Due to the Coalitions grants we are able to purchase a variety of pamphlets with information on smoking/vaping, as well as second hand smoke. We're also able to purchase items to fill Quit Kits for the community. Throughout the school year we have resource tables set up at various sports games to get the information out to the community.

On April 1st The middle school Redfield SADD students presented "Samantha Skunk: Why Smoking Stinks" to 1st graders. In this original tale of Samantha Skunk: Why Smoking Stinks a team of 5 students conveys the story of how Samantha tries smoking. After smoking, Samantha changes color from her “unique” magenta color to green. As the story progresses, Samantha turns back to her beautiful magenta color with the assistance of another character: Solomon the parrot. In the end, Samantha promises to “never smoke again – and to spread the word to help others”. An audience participation element is added to the presentation when the student-narrators periodically ask the class: “What do we know about smoking?” To which half the class answers “Smoking stinks” and the other half replies “like camel’s breath!!!” The underlying strategy is one of social disapproval (smoking is yucky) as opposed to focusing on the cancer and health-related issues that are taught to students when they are older.

This presentation was made possible by the Spink County Coalition's Tobacco Grant.

A Samantha Skunk presentation on lung health as delivered to the second grade on April 30th. The story of Samantha was told by Redfield High School Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), students portraying Samantha and her friends in brightly colored animal costumes.

In this version of the story, Samantha Skunk has tried smoking a cigarette and it causes her to turn green and she is no longer able to run and play with her friends as well as before. With the help of other characters in the story, Samantha learns a valuable lesson which she explains to the audience:

• Os are tiny Oxygen molecules – which are in the air;
• Your muscles need Os to exercise;
• Smoking makes you slower because the Os can’t get to the muscles as well;
• Smoking is hard to quit once you start; smokers are not bad people. If someone you love smokes, don’t be mean to them. Be supportive and helpful.

This presentation was made possible by the Spink County Coalition's Tobacco Grant.

Contact:

Heidi Appel, Administrative Director heidi.appel@k12.sd.us 605-460-2444