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High school advisory council outlines divisionwide vaping-prevention campaign
Summary
Students from Bedford County high schools presented a student-led vaping-prevention campaign called "Unclouded," including anonymous surveys, podcasts, t-shirts and pledges; central office pledged $200 per high school and principals provided matching funds to support next-year expansion.
Students on the superintendent's Student Advisory Council urged the Bedford County School Board to support a student-led vaping-prevention campaign they plan to expand next year.
At the meeting, Dr. Woodford introduced juniors and seniors from Jefferson Forest, Stanton River and Liberty High who described a mix of peer education tools they piloted this school year, including anonymous Google-form surveys, podcasts, middle-school lesson plans and a social-media hashtag campaign called "#unclouded." Students said they also made and distributed T-shirts and are developing a pledge drive and classroom-ready lesson plans aimed at changing norms around vaping.
The students said they began by surveying their peers anonymously to gauge prevalence and attitudes. "We made a Google form that we sent out across to the entire school so people could fill out their forms and it was anonymous so they didn't feel like they had to lie," a Jefferson Forest student said, explaining how the group used results to design outreach. Stanton River students demonstrated a schoolwide effort that included disassembling a vape for a science demonstration and playing the recording during class, and reported about 15% of surveyed students said they vape.
Superintendent Pair and staff told the board the central office committed $200 per high school to support student campaigns, and several principals matched that funding to expand materials and activities. The campaign aims to sustain efforts by recruiting underclassmen and partnering with clubs and performing arts next year to reach elementary and middle-school students through assemblies and theatrical presentations.
Board members and staff asked students how they will measure success; presenters said they plan a mix of social-media challenge participation metrics and classroom pre-/post-tests using the Google forms to gauge knowledge gains. "In the Google forms that we created for the health classes, we had a pre and post test and so we were going to try to see like how much we were able to teach them," a student said.
What happens next: staff said they will continue to support student efforts next school year, and students said they intend to maintain momentum by training new members, expanding podcasts and using shared branding across the division.
