Penn collaborated with the American Cancer Society and the anti-smoking campaign thetruth.com yesterday to promote the 27th Great American Smokeout. Efforts were directed at the 1/3 of Penn students who have either smoked in the past or smoke actively, according to Director of Health Education Susan Villari.
The event, which takes place annually on the third Thursday of November, encourages smokers of all ages to either begin smoking less or quit completely. The Office of Health Education and the Social Planning and Events Committee hosted a van from thetruth.com -- which targets youths -- and set up tables with information to attract smokers who are looking to quit.
Despite extensive campaigns by organizations like thetruth.com and efforts within the Penn community, smoking is a serious issue on campuses, Villari said.
"The studies that I've been reading show that one-fourth of high school seniors smoke, and most people begin to smoke before they are 21," Villari said.
In an endeavor to change this statistic, student and thetruth.com volunteers spoke individually with students about methods of quitting and offered them starter kits -- including nicotine gum, bubbles and candy -- that bore a striking resemblance to goody bags.
"It's just things to put in your mouth -- people need oral replacement," Villari said. "Ways to distract yourself when you really crave a cigarette."
In addition to the kits, thetruth.com volunteers asked Penn smokers to sign a slip of paper that stated that they would henceforth quit smoking.
"You can sign a sheet or make a short video that they'll put on their Web site," SPEC liaison and College sophomore Makeda Kefale said. "They're trying to collect a million signatures by the end of the tour."
Villari said that it is difficult for Penn students to quit in a single day, because the addiction is not merely to nicotine, but also to the habit of smoking in social situations.
"We are concerned as health educators on a college campus, because most people are social smokers," she said. "They think they just smoke casually with friends and will be able to quit when they graduate."
Health educator and counselor Sandi Herman agreed, and said the Great American Smokeout serves mostly to raise awareness for the cause.
"I think it is a way to get people to think about it," she said. "I didn't hear anyone say, 'I'm going to quit today,' but I heard a lot of people say, 'Oh yeah, today is Great American Smokeout day. I'm going to think about how I can quit smoking.'"
The van, parked outside Van Pelt Library from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., made stops at other Philadelphia universities yesterday as well.
