[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E607-E608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SALUTING MT. WHITNEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. WILLIAM M. THOMAS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to 
honor three students,

[[Page E608]]

Zach Vanderham, Jessica Parks, and Darren Mann, who are seniors at Mt. 
Whitney High School in Visalia, California in my district. These three 
young people have developed an anti-smoking program aimed at their 
peers that I hope will serve as a model for other schools throughout 
the country. They have created a CD ROM titled ``Teens Kick Ash'' that 
explains the dangers of smoking in a manner to which other young people 
can relate and understand.
  As part of a competition organized by a national student marketing 
organization, Zach, Jessica, and Darren developed this CD in order to 
dissuade their fellow students from taking up this destructive, 
dangerous habit. Their project has proven so effective that the CD's 
have been distributed to dozens of other schools in the Visalia Unified 
School District, which have incorporated the project into their 
curriculum. Mr. Speaker, all Americans now know the dangers that 
smoking presents, and realize that we must do more to prevent our young 
people from starting this destructive habit. I am very pleased that 
these three students from Tulare County, California have had the good 
sense and initiative to educate their peers on smoking's dangers and to 
do their part to keep the next generation of Tulare County citizens 
from starting to smoke.
  I have an article from the Visalia Times Delta newspaper that I ask 
unanimous consent be included in the Record in its entirety.

                   Students Describe Smoking Dangers


    La Joya shows project created by three Mt. Whitney DECA students

                          (By Melinda Morales)

       Twenty three seventh-grade students sat in the dark in Dave 
     Rodgers' health class at La Joya Middle School Tuesday, 
     waiting not for the lights to come on but for the show to 
     begin.
       They would be the first group of students to view a CD-ROM 
     production called ``Anti Tobacco Education 2000, Teens Kick 
     Ash,'' created by three Mt. Whitney High School students.
       The students, members of DECA--an association of marketing 
     students--had taken on the job of creating the CD-ROM as part 
     of a marketing project for the annual DECA competition in Jan 
     Jose next month. They wanted to see how other students would 
     react to what they saw.
       ``We felt smoking was a big problem in our community and we 
     wanted to produce a CD about it,'' said Zach Vanderham, a 
     senior and DECA member. ``They seemed to really enjoy it.''
       What captivated the students were the video vignettes, 
     produced by drama students at Mt. Whitney, interspersed 
     throughout the disc. One that got a reaction from the class 
     showed students coughing and choking as they smoked for the 
     first time and asked why anyone would want to continue 
     smoking after that kind of reaction.
       The CD-ROM presentation is the first of its kind, produced 
     by students in the Visalia Unified School District. Rodgers, 
     a health education specialist, said getting information to 
     students in the middle schools is a priority for him.
       ``Any opportunity I get to have someone come in from the 
     outside and talk to my students about drugs and the dangers 
     they present, I jump on it,'' he said. When they get to high 
     school, sometimes it's too late.''
       He said the combined video and audio presentation in CD 
     form, organized format and worksheet for the lesson are easy 
     to use.
       ``We try to incorporate technology as much as possible,'' 
     Rodgers said. ``And kids like visuals.''
       Beatrice Mejia, 12, said the facts and grim photos on the 
     effects of chewing tobacco made an impression on her.
       ``I didn't know that the tobacco could do so much damage,'' 
     she said.
       The project was the brainchild of Mt. Whitney DECA adviser 
     Stephen Rogers, who worked with the Tulare County Health and 
     Human Services Agency to get the money for the project.
       ``We got a $5,000 grant to buy the equipment for the 
     project,'' Rogers said. He made arrangements with a 
     production company in Los Angeles to show his students how to 
     use the equipment and create their own story. Then he let 
     them go.
       ``They really did it all themselves,'' he said. The grant 
     enabled them to buy the equipment and produce 350 copies of 
     the disc that will be used in schools throughout the 
     district.
       The grant came from the state's Tobacco Use Prevention 
     Education fund which is to be used strictly for educating 
     kids about the dangers of tobacco. Lucinda Mejdell-Awbrey, 
     coordinator of student support services for health and human 
     services, said the tobacco education money was used last year 
     to put on health fairs in the middle schools in the district.
       ``The money comes from the tax on tobacco sales, and the 
     amounts have been dropping each year because tobacco sales 
     are going down,'' Mejdell-Awbrey said. Most of the money is 
     used to purchase educational materials for health teachers of 
     fourth-through eighth grades.
       Jessica Parks, a junior, helped Vanderham lead the 
     presentation to the class, guided the students through the 
     worksheets and answered questions. Darren Mann, senior, 
     operated the computer and navigated the course for Parks and 
     Vanderham. He also did much of the hands-on computer work for 
     the project.
       The three students, who began working on the project in 
     November, will now complete the written requirements for the 
     presentation and submit it for the competition in March.

     

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