April 18. 2019 – Statesman.Com — Middle school students throughout the Round Rock school district are learning about the dangers of e-cigarettes and vaping thanks to a districtwide initiative. Students also walk away from the course with ways to refuse vaping and helping their peers do the same. The CATCH My Breath curriculum in sixth grade physical education classes began two years ago to teach students about how e-cigarettes work, the harmful contents in the products and their potential health risks.
“It’s basically trying to teach children the negative consequences that e-cigarettes have to offer,” she said. “They don’t realize how dangerous they are and whats all involved with an e-cigarette. So we’re trying to teach them the components and chemicals.” She said the course can be eye opening for students and also clears up the misconception that e-cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes. Coach Sarah Nielsen led a discussion among a group of more than 30 students at Canyon Vista Middle School on Tuesday.
“They’re going to be curious and they’re going to potentially be offered the e-cigarettes,” said Susan Nix, assistant athletic director. “If we can teach them the dangers and give them tools and refusal skills to keep those curiosities from wanting to experiment, then we’ve hit a home run. We might keep a kid from getting addicted to this.”
More than 3.6 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes from 2017 to 2018, an increase of more than 1.5 million students from the previous year, according to the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nix said there have been instances reported on district campuses of middle school students being caught smoking e-cigarettes and vaping. After taking the course, some students in Nielsen’s class said they will not try the products.
“Not very many e-cigarette smokers and smokers know the side effects and harmful things that they can produce and have on your body,” said sixth grader Sawyer Grimaldi. “Personally I don’t think I’ll try any cigarette, even for the flavors, because I’ve been informed about the harmful things that can happen. Sometimes it can cause cancer and popcorn throat which is a disease that affects your throat.”
“If we all went to high school without learning this, we would all start smoking or vaping,” said sixth grader Ted Bullot. “We would all end up with lung cancer, for example.” Grimaldi said he plans to pass the information he learned on to his younger brother and his older brother who is starting high school next year. When it comes to educating students on the risks of smoking, he said it’s never too early to learn.
“I think the word being spread early enough now will prevents kids in our generation from doing weed and e-cigarettes in high school,” he said. Nix said the course could be expanded to include more grade levels.
“I think there’s going to be more facts that come out, more information and more statistics,” she said. “I don’t think e-cigarettes are going to go away, but we’ll be educated on the dangers the more research they do.”
