SHERBURNE – Thursday morning, Sherburne­-Earlville teachers and students will arrive at school to find a parking lot chock-full with chalk outlines of bodies and quotes. No one is actually planning to commit murder in the S­–E parking lot; instead one audacious middle schooler has taken upon herself to lead a “Chalking the Walk,” in an effort to raise awareness of the deaths associated with tobacco-related illnesses. Eighth grader and Reality Check member Katie Rounds and her friends are prepared to litter the S-E parking lot with chalked quotes from tobacco companies, appalling smoking-related statistics, and body outlines representing the average 70 people who die daily in New York State from smoking-related ailments.
Rounds and her friends intend to initiate the “Chalking the Walk” Wednesday night, provided it doesn’t rain, because Thursday is the Great American Smoke-Out – a day on which smokers are asked to reflect upon the consequences of smoking and encourage them to quit for a day. Schools are an important target for anti-smoking organizations because teens are one of tobacco companies’ main advertising quarries, according to the Reality Check website.
“We have documents proving tobacco companies target teens,” said Reality Check organizer Heather Bernet.
According to its website, Reality Check an adult sponsored, teen led organization, which tries to draw attention to what they feel is “manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.” Grassroots activities, such as “Chalking the Walk,” are part of Reality Check’s campaign to educate potential smokers as well as those who have already become ensnared, to the dangers of tobacco use. According to their website, Reality Check’s slogan is, “We won’t be bought,” implying the group’s intent to service communities as a counterbalance to the millions of dollars tobacco companies spend on advertising.
Through active students, like Rounds, Reality Check is able to reach out to kids and inform them about the dangers of smoking. “The Great American Smoke-Out is a great opportunity to help prevent kids from picking up smoking and to help people interested in quitting to do so,” said Bernet.
When Megan Rogers, an S-E alumni and member of Reality Check, graduated last year, she was asked to anoint a successor to continue her mission of dispersing tobacco awareness amongst S-E students and staff. She chose Katie Rounds to fill her shoes and Rounds has been an enthusiastic and stout activist in the battle against tobacco companies. “She is really passionate about it and it’s great,” said Bernet.
S-E students have also created short anti-tobacco video clips which they plan to share with the rest of the school, broadcasting them over the Thursday morning announcements. “The tobacco industry needs to replace the dead and dying tobacco users and they need teens; students don’t want their classmates to fall for Big Tobacco’s lies,” said Bernet.