Tobacco2: Katy Gochnauer, a senior public health major at Slippery Rock University, takes a photo of Slippery Rock High School students Emily Henry, junior, Jillian Savena, sophomore, and Camila Valencia, sophomore, in a special TRU (Tobacco Resistance Unit) Instagram prop. The students took part in an anti-tobacco program hosted by Keystone Wellness Programs, and they were encouraged to share their knowledge about the dangers of tobacco using social media like Facebook and Instagram.

SLIPPERY ROCK — Students from Mars and Slippery Rock high schools visited Slippery Rock University on Thursday for the culminating event of their semester-long anti-tobacco program led by Keystone Wellness Programs.

The program teaches students prevention tactics to end generations of smoking, according to Amy Black-Stockham, health educator with the Keystone programs in Evans City.

It uses the acronym TRU, tobacco resistance unit, to teach other students to be tobacco free.

Part of the program also includes peer-to-peer education, so students in the program then teach younger students, sometimes at the middle school and elementary levels, to prevent tobacco use.

In addition, public health and social work majors at SRU partner with the high school students to mentor them, according to Barb Breitenstein, a health educator with the Keystone programs.

For Steph MacDonald, an SRU junior majoring in social work, the project is close to her heart.

“I used to be a smoker, so I feel better knowing that I'm making positive changes,” she said. “They don't have to have the experience I had.”

MacDonald also said that prevention education is always better than dealing with the health problems that can result.

Another SRU student, Tatiana Moore, shared some sobering statistics.

“Fifty percent of seniors are smoking in high school, and 30 percent of nine graders have tried cigarettes,” she said. “That's something not a lot of people know.”

Moore is a junior majoring in social work.

The students participated in team building activities to develop leadership skills, and a Call to Action rally included plans for a Turquoise Takeover at the high schools, an initiative started by the Lung Force, Black-Stockham said.

This will continue the education the students can do in their own school districts, she said.

Anthony Greico, a sophomore at Mars High School, said he enjoys being able to be a role model for younger students and being able to show them that they don't have to give in to peer pressure.“I think it's really interesting and engaging for them,” he said, speaking on his experience teaching students in eighth grade. “We get to be the example. We've not given in to this peer pressure so you don't have to either.”In the Slippery Rock School District, the high school students will be teaching children in third to fifth grade about the dangers of tobacco.Malia Kennedy, a freshman at Slippery Rock High, said the program's strength is that it lets them teach young children so that the information sticks with them longer.The program included 13 students from Mars and 15 students from Slippery Rock high schools along with 10 SRU students, Breitenstein said.Breitenstein said the officials with program, which is funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, hope to expand it next year to include more schools in Butler County.

Students from Mars and Slippery Rock high schools throw their TRU (Tobacco Resistance Unit) hats at the end of a Call to Action rally Thursday afternoon at Slippery Rock University. The students were instructed on tobacco prevention, and they will be teaching students in elementary and middle schools about how to become a smoke-free generation.