On March 15, Red Bay High School was the location of one of thousands of nationwide programs and events held for national Kick Butts Day.
The “Kick Butts Rally” at RBHS, which lasted from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., was part of a program sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and was hosted by the Red Bay High School Tobacco Grant Prevention Program.
The goal of “Kick Butts” is simple.
“We want to encourage students not to smoke and not to use any kind of smokeless tobacco,” said Christopher Hargett of the RBHS Tobacco Grant Prevention Program. “We want to instill in the students the message that tobacco causes cancer, it causes heart disease, and it causes a lot of other health problems.”
Nine tables were set up in the auditorium for the event. Each table had an experiment, demonstration, or example of the detrimental effects of tobacco use.
At a few of the tables were representatives from organizations like the American Cancer Society, Teens Against Tobacco, North Alabama Area Health Education Center, Red Bay Hospital, and MedFlight.
“It took a while to contact and communicate with these professionals to get them to come today,” Hargett said. “They are busy people, and I had to make a lot of calls and send a lot of emails. Thankfully, the ones here today were able to work around their schedules to come talk to the students today.”
“If you engage with the students, they listen,” he said. “That’s what a lot of the speakers are able to do is engage with them.”
The professional medical personnel, speakers, and representatives were not the only individuals participating in the campaign. Student members of various clubs like Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) were also talking to classmates about tobacco use.
“A lot of students don’t realize what smoking and dipping can do to you and the damage it can cause,” said Red Bay junor and state HOSA vice president Savannah Shaw. “I have a lot of people come up to me, and they know smoking is bad, but they don’t understand that dipping is bad for you, too. I think this program brings attention to that.”
Senior Tate Ozbirn, president of Red Bay HOSA, echoed his classmate’s statement.
“I think for young kids to see what happens to their lungs and teeth after smoking and the dangers of using tobacco, it makes them less likely to do it in the future,” he said.
Upperclassmen were not the only ones involved in educating classmates. Some of the youngest Red Bay students were also participating.
Red Bay has the only Junior SADD club in the state. Gretchen Davis and Cassidy Aldridge worked the Junior SADD booth and spent their day warning classmates and older Red Bay students about the effects of tobacco.
“I believe today brings a better perspective of the dangers of tobacco and smoking,” Aldridge said.
Davis agreed with her counterpart.
“I think it’s important to bring awareness to people in school that smoking is dangerous and to tell them about the bad things that can happen to those that use tobacco,” she said.
Events like the “Kick Butts Rally” are helped made possible by a $35,000 grant recently awarded by the Alabama Department of Public Health and Tobacco Prevention and Control to the RBHS Tobacco Grant Prevention Program. With the money provided to them by the state, Hargett is hoping to continue to coordinate more tobacco prevention events.
“It’s all about the kids. This is just one of the events we have had for them so far this year,” said Hargett. “We’ve had public speakers come in to talk to the students. We had a puppet show for the Pre-K through fourth graders. With the grant, we are planning even more things like this in the future.”
