Rock Solid Youth Prevention Team traveled to the WA. State Prevention Summit in November 2018 and learned more about the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) as part of youth training. They also learned more about the dangers of vaping and how currently, E-Cigarettes are not properly tested for quality or amounts of nicotine in those fruity liquids. Knowing this is now considered a public health epidemic, Rock Solid decided to create: Escape The Vape! for their prevention project this year. Goal: Reduce vaping among our peers & classmates and educate them on the health risks of vaping.
Rock Solid; President Luke Fincher stated, “We are sharing our resources, so if you would like to do this in your school or community, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Use any of what we have created or take our ideas and run with them! Let’s help make all communities a healthier place to live and breathe!”
STEP BY STEP to create this project:
In our school, we met with the Principal and asked if we could do a PRE and then POST Survey to measure our impact. Here is our survey. Pre:Post SurveyRockSolid
We created posters and put them up in both our middle and high schools. We saturated the space! Trusted websites: escapethevape.org, cdc.gov, truthinitiative.org, tobaccofreekids.org
We also made slides with the Quit Hotlines & Text Programs, which play on our school’s TV monitor, giving FREE RESOURCES to support our peers in stopping vaping and using other tobacco products if they have started already. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO QUIT!
We asked art students to create original artwork to hang in the halls on vaping along with science-based facts. This was very popular!
We are mentoring the younger students at our middle school with their prevention team, HOTS Jr. (Helping Out Teens Society). They are doing some of the same activities we are doing in our high school and sharing it with their middle school classmates! This is about 475 youth hearing similar messages on the health risks of vaping! Plus, as we mentor the younger kids, they will join right in with our high school prevention team as they get older! We are building in sustainability!
We created a Weekly Trivia Contest on Vaping for 10 weeks. We asked for collaboration with our ASB Club to help support and fund this effort (they voted unanimously to fund the prizes!), and our school’s Chef made the yummy cookies as prizes! We watched our participation grow each week as the word spread! Here are our trivia questions. If it helps you to get started, use them! TriviaQuestionsEscapeTheVape2019
We Created 2 PSA Videos: We used humor to try and get people more comfortable to talk about this unpleasant topic. #ReclaimOurBathrooms #NotAJuulRoom #MammasDontLetYourBabiesGrowUpToBeVapers
Luke Fincher created a Lung Function assessment for his PE Classes in our school, using a Peak Flow Meter, by collaborating with a local doctor’s office. They let us borrow their device, and we ordered the disposable mouthpieces that fit their Access Peak Flow Meter to test the whole class safely. We are looking to see if we can notice any difference between those that reported vaping and those that didn’t. We created a confidential questionnaire and tested 3 times over 3 months. It also gave us a good opportunity to talk about lung health. Although a small group size, our data did suggest that those that reported not vaping had improved peak flow assessments over the course of the 3 months of testing compared to the students who reported a history of vaping. It was innovative to try this:) Here is our questionnaire PeakFlowMeterAssesment
We also asked our Principal if we could add the hotline phone numbers on the back of our Student IDs since it’s just a blank space. He loved the idea! We are talking to the person who makes our IDs to make this happen from here on out! We plan to ask ASB Club to help fund this annually. Imagine, right at their fingertips! FREE RESOURCES: 1-800-QUIT-NOW and Suicide Prevention Helpline 1-800-273-TALK We are really excited about this idea! All schools should consider doing this!
We asked our Principal if we could get new signage around the school: VAPE-FREE ZONE. The school’s facility manager ordered them and put them up to help support these efforts! Just ask. You might be surprised at their support!
We also did lots of Social Media posting with our San Juan Island Prevention Coalition! We were able to broaden our reach with their collaboration! We shared to Facebook Group Pages that have over 4,000 local members. We live on an island with only 7,000 people, so we are grateful for this outlet to reach many community members, parents included. Find a prevention partner to help share your messages!
We also found a DoSomething.org social media anti-vaping campaign online that gave away a $5000 college scholarship to someone who took their 5 question quiz online and then reshared it on their social media page/handle. We targeted the graduating seniors and juniors in our school’s CCC center, where they do a lot of prep work for college applications. We made posters with a QR Code created to take them right to that site to participate! The quiz used memes of famous actors and TV shows, making it appealing, but they also talked about not giving vaping products to the younger kids in your school, so it was really fitting! We had almost 1,500 people view our online post with this survey! So, always be watching for opportunities to cross-promote and collaborate!
All of this takes time to plan, then time to implement, and time to follow-up! But, it has been very worthwhile to get the conversations going about the health risks of vaping, helping peers stop vaping with local resources and hotlines, and reclaiming the school bathrooms! #LeaveMeBeIJustNeedToPee We have heard amazing comments from other classmates thanking us for doing this project. Certainly, the teachers and staff have been supportive, making all the difference in having an effective prevention project. We thank everyone for being open to helping us and giving us their support!
Escape the Vape!
Your prevention friends, ROCK SOLID!
WA. State Prevention Summit Excellence in Prevention Award – Youth Leadership 2019 winner, ROCK SOLID, in Yakima, WA.