The 14-year-old girl gazed down at the slim white stick between her fingers. She wondered nervously if she really wanted to do this. Questions flew through her head but mainly, the question of being caught. She desperately hoped her parents would not find out.
This happened two years ago after Kelsey Boogusch, ’06, picked-up her first cigarette.
“I had just turned 14,” Boogusch said. “The first time I was doing it was to show my brother I wasn’t a geek. I was trying to show I cared.”
Boogusch’s brother influenced her decision to smoke.
“I looked up to him,” Boogusch said. “He never offered me any. I always saw him doing it [smoking].”
A lack of money drove Boogusch to quit.
“I stopped mainly because it was too much money,” Boogusch said. “I stopped smoking by quitting buying cigarettes. It didn’t bother me that much to stop.”
Being around people who smoke now does not really affect Boogusch.
“I think it’s kinda gross now,” Boogusch said. “I’d just rather not [smoke]. Every once in awhile I get a craving but I just go eat something.”
Boogusch began her smoke-free life before the start of this school year.
Principal Gary Schultz believes few students smoke.
“I think the percentage of smokers is very small,” Schultz said. “I think they [students] realize the health problems. Plus, it doesn’t have the stigma. Smoking isn’t that cool anymore.”
The school’s strict standards on godly character applies to teachers as well.
“I would never hire a teacher who smokes. It wouldn’t be within the school’s code of conduct,” Principal Schultz said. “The school’s code of conduct says they can’t.
In Schultz’s day, the “bad” kids smoked.
“When I was a kid, if you were going to do something bad, you’d go smoke a cigarette behind the barn,” Schultz said. “You would do this just to say you’d gotten away with it. We never thought of [cigarettes] having health implications. There were relatively few drugs.”
Even during Schultz’s time, kids did not smoke regularly.
“Occasionally, someone would smoke, just to be bad,” Schultz said. “If your parents found out, you’d be grounded for life.”
The school’s policy on smoking imposes a three-day suspension. Students receive three consequences the first time they get caught.
Many sources provide information on smoking and what drives students to start.
A survey conducted by Columbia University reported on Aug. 25, 2003, that, “boredom, too much spending money and stress can drive teens to substance abuse. Young people between the ages 12 and 17 who are frequently bored are 50 percent more likely to smoke?.”
The study was based on interviews of 1,987 kids ages 12 through 17 along with 504 parents. The study showed that small schools are better for resisting cigarettes, booze and drugs.
“Kids at schools with more than 1,200 students were twice as likely as those at schools with less than 800 students to be at high risk of substance abuse,” Carolyn Kessel wrote in her article, Steering clear: Avoiding drugs, alcohol not easy for young people. “Catholic and other religious schools are likelier to be drug-free than public schools.”
Some of the side effects of smoking include chronic bronchitis (emphysema), cancer (of the lungs and other organs), strokes and heart attacks. For more on Kessel’s article, go to www.metrodailynews.com.
Parents and teens can get information about drugs, marijuana, alcohol, and gives scientific facts about each of them at www.theantidrug.com/drug_info/index.html.
The dangers of smoking can be viewed at www33.brinkster.com/articlesupport/dangers-smoking.html.
If students want to learn about the dangers of smoking in a humorous way, visit www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/gamespuz/wordsearch/smoking.htm for puzzles, games, facts, consequences and other things besides smoking. This site is targeted for young girls.
Thetruth.com was a source of information for this article.” “Madeline Ervin, Photographer” “Campuses across California are deemed “drug free zones” which include any products with tobacco. Fresno Christian’s policy for the first smoking related offense is a 3-day suspension.” “” “” “Parents: The Antidrug
