TriCounty Health Department is excited for a new school year working with students in the battle against big tobacco. Student leaders from Terra Academy and Manila, Uintah, Union, Altamont, and Tabiona High School were selected to be part of the health department’s youth program after writing essays on what they will do to combat tobacco in their area. To start with, the group came up with a great name to represent them. They are SWAT: Students Working Against Tobacco. “We want our students to be drug free and tobacco free,” shares health department SWAT coordinator Daniel Jackson. “Each school has direct contact with TriCounty Health Department to help these youth leaders to lead in their schools.” The most common product used in schools is vaping, explains Jackson, though there are plenty of other devices used that deliver nicotine as well. All are eager for SWAT to get underway to educate students on the harms of nicotine and how to unite and rise above it.
