March 7,
2007
youthempowerment@umsl.edu
Teens Take on Tobacco in Jefferson
City
St. Louis Schools bring home awards
St.
Louis – Students from Jennings and St. Louis were honored in
Jefferson City for their outstanding performance in this year’s
Project Citizen Showcase.
Project Citizen teaches
young people about the importance of being informed and active
citizens. The project encourages youth to develop and advocate
public policies designed to improve their communities.
The students from Jennings
High School won The Best Hearing Award, for their presentation
of “Stop the Loose, Stop the Use,” a policy designed to enforce
existing laws restricting the sale of loose cigarettes. After
investigating the frequency of loose cigarette sales in
Jennings, the students decided to propose a media campaign to
raise awareness about the issue, and presented a plan to
increase the fines for violating the ordinance. Billy Rucker,
a youth coordinator at Jennings said he “had no idea about the
prevalence of loose cigarette sales in Jennings learned that
this practice actually encourages young kids to begin smoking.”
Support-a-Child
International, a local non-profit, organized a group of students
from around the city of St. Louis who brought home the award for
Best Middle School Hearing for their “Our Kids Are Not a Target
For Your Market.” This project advocates a ban on tobacco
advertising within the city limits. An ordinance currently
exists banning this form of advertising within 2000 feet of any
place frequented by children. The students mapped their
community and came to the conclusion that if the present
ordinance were enforced, it would constitute a total ban.
Vincent McKinney, Director of Project Change noted that “Project
Citizen showed our kids that they can make a difference, and
they do have a voice.”
These projects were
sponsored by The University of Missouri-St. Louis, Youth
Empowerment in Action, Tobacco Education and Media (YEA! TEAM)
program. This program trains teachers to use media literacy
skills to empower children to make informed decisions and
healthy choices. YEA! TEAM is part of the Center for Character
and Citizenship in the College of Education at the University of
Missouri
Funding for this project was provided in part by the Missouri
Foundation for Health. The Missouri Foundation for Health is a
philanthropic organization whose vision is to improve the health
of the people in the communities it serves.