 Chalk it Up
Goal:
- To raise awareness of the health effects of tobacco use and how the tobacco industry works to make you think it’s cool to smoke.
Target Audience:
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All students coming onto school property.
Overview of Event:
- Good for spring or when the sidewalks and parking lots are clear and dry.
- Have tobacco group meet at the school at least an hour before first students arrive and chalk up statistics, facts and quotes about the effects of smoking, how addictive it is, who is being targeted by the tobacco industry, how much you spend on tobacco if you smoke and what you could buy with that money.
- If you want to hold this event in the winter you can turn it into a poster graffiti event and do the same thing.
- You can also do it as a fact of the day on morning announcements after the event to keep the messages alive and reach more students.
Tools Required:
- Sidewalk chalk
- Markers and paper if it’s an indoor event
- Banner paper for large graffiti wall
- Quotes and statistics to chalk up
The Process:
- Get the principal’s permission;
- Research facts about tobacco industry marketing, health effects, etc, and pass out to chalkers. Check out website list provided for info;
- Chalk up sidewalks, parking lot, any place you can with short messages in large type;
- If it’s an indoor event, put up posters or banners;
- Select speaker for fact of the day for morning announcements;
- Document results – how many messages, estimate of students reached, impact, feedback.
Feedback from youth who ran this event:
“Easy to do. Chalk wears out fast. Need to keep messages short and write big. Morning surprise tactic worked well. Chalked sidewalk leading up to school grounds as well as walkways into school, etc. Don’t forget the area kids pass by to go off property to smoke especially with messages that remind them how much they could save, how only 1-5 people smoke, what are you missing being out here? Don’t take sides…hate the game (tobacco), not the players (smokers).”
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