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'Rise Above' youth advisory group launches peer-led vaping and THC prevention in Bemidji schools
Summary
Students from Bemidji High School and surrounding schools described a youth advisory initiative called Rise Above that focuses on vaping and THC prevention, peer outreach at athletic events, educational materials and small incentives to engage teens.
A student-run youth advisory committee called Rise Above described outreach and prevention activities to a Beltrami County opioid steering committee community session in Bemidji.
"I wanted to help educate teens about what they're doing to their bodies, help better mental health, and then let teens know that there's resources out there to help them quit," said one student participant, describing motivations for joining the group. Cammy Kelm, a county public-health staffer who helped implement the committee, said the program relied on a school-based survey that showed high levels of vaping and identified stress as a leading reason students use nicotine and THC products.
The committee — currently five members — chose "Rise Above" as its name and a mountain logo to symbolize resilience. Activities described at the meeting included testing accessibility at local gas stations, outreach at sporting events, a mascot named Randy who will feature in a planned Instagram campaign, a Jeopardy-style education game, a spinning-prize wheel for events, and small giveaways (frisbees, bracelets, stickers, stress balls) to attract peers to educational tables.
"We went on a field trip to multiple different gas stations to see what was available for teens. And all the gas stations but one had something at it," Brianna Schroeder, intervention program specialist at BASC, said. Committee members said many students reported vaping to cope with stress and that several did not know how to quit or where to find help. The group said it plans to expand outreach to other county schools and to coordinate with an emerging middle-school program, Uplift, aimed at earlier prevention.
Cammy Kelm noted the county grant that funded cannabis-prevention work was repurposed in part to address vaping and THC products and that Rise Above is youth-driven: "Everything that they have done has been their ideas." Steering-committee staff encouraged attendees to follow the program online once the youth launch their Instagram and to contact county staff with questions.
