Students have say to stub smoking
College students are lighting up at the opportunity to have their say on smoking.
A pilot programme by the Waitemata District Health Board (WDHB) is giving students the chance to develop their own messages about youth smoking.
Tim Wood, WDHB funding and development manager for primary care, says it’s about letting the youth use methodsrelevant to their demographic.
‘‘What we’re trying to do through this programme is get younger people to start having a conversation about smoking and the reasons not to start, but for them to do it using technology and language applicable to them,’’ Wood says.
‘‘We still have a significant number of New Zealanders who smoke every day, and we’re particularly concerned about stopping young people from starting, as once they’ve started it’s difficult to stop.’’
Rodney College in Wellsford is the first school to participate in the programme, and students have created memes, videos and media from their point of view. Rodney College media studies teacher Michael Kingi has been impressed by the programme and the student response, saying youth voices often get ‘‘swept under the rug’’.
‘‘Not many people do ads from this perspective,’’ Kingi says.
Students Yasith Bandara, Blair Rewi, Jordan Te Aupa, Isha Walker and Harrison Warahi enjoyed creating anti smoking messages for the programme.
Isha created a fast-paced video featuring interviews with smokers, while Harrison made a light video featuring his younger brother, a natural actor. Blair, Jordan and Yasith took a different approach, creating both humourous and serious memes.
All had different reasons for why youths start smoking, including social pressures, ignorance of health dangers and low selfconfidence. Wood says if the programme is successful, the students’ messages will form part of a broader campaign.
‘‘We’re very pleased with the support from Rodney College, and appreciate them enabling us to put this into their school and try it out,’’ Wood says.
‘‘Many students have done work outside of school hours so it has been a big commitment.’’
The average smoker begins the habit aged 14-15.