T-shirt design urges kids to stay tobacco-free

Eighth-grader Amber Dodson hopes her T-shirt artwork in Hancock Place Middle School's "Keeping Kids Tobacco Free" contest helps convince her classmates not to smoke or use tobacco.

She and other contest winners say they wish they could get their parents to quit smoking. Some of them also have had grandparents who were smokers and died of lung cancer.

There were three first-place winners in the south St. Louis school's T-shirt design and essay contest.

Besides Amber's artwork, fellow 8th-grader Mariann Schuessel provided the winning slogan for the T-shirt design. It said: "Hang Tough, Don't Puff."

She said her slogan urges kids to resist peer pressure and stay free of tobacco. She said, "I want them to hang in there and don't give in."

The essay contest winner was another 8th grader, Nicholas Mathes.

The contest judges also selected a 6th and 7th grade class winners from the T-shirt design entries. The 6th grade winner was Marina Faupel, 11, while the 7th grade winner was Sylvia Anicker, 12.

All 6th, 7th and 8th grade students entered the design and essay contests. They created their entries during their "balanced literacy" classes that teach reading and writing.

Contest winners were introduced at an all-school assembly late last month.

At the assembly, the kids heard from two anti-tobacco speakers. One had a particularly strong impact. He used a voice synthesizer because he lost his voice-box to cancer.

At the end of the school meeting, kids all signed a "tobacco-free" pledge banner. The banner featured the same artwork by Amber Dodson as in the T-shirt design. It shows the school's Tiger mascot breaking a giant cigarette with a karate kick.

The T-shirt and essay contest was sponsored by the Siteman Cancer Center, BJC Health Systems and Washington University's School of Medicine. The Siteman Center bought over 500 of the kid-designed T-shirts so each student and staff member can have one.

The school also is purchasing an additional 100 T-shirts that will be offered for sale during a Fall Festival on Nov. 5. The sale will be a charity fund-raiser for the school.

A delegation from Hancock Place Middle School also will participate in a local Great American Smokeout program at Siteman on November 17. The Smokeout is a national anti-smoking event.

The contest-winning kids got gift certificates from Westfield Shopping Centers. Amber, Mariann and Nicholas each got $250 certificates. Marina and Sylvia got $50 certificates.

For many of the Hancock Place contest winners, cancer illness in their families provided motivation for their anti-tobacco messages.

Asked if members of her family smoke, Amber said, "Lots of them do." She also said one of her grandfathers died of lung cancer.

Concerning her attitude about tobacco use, the 15-year-old said, "I think smoking is a waste of money and those who do are smoking their lives away."

Fourteen-year-old Nicholas said his grandmother was a smoker and she also died of lung cancer. He said both his parents smoke.

"And second-hand smoke is worse than the real smoking," Nicholas said. He added, "Smoking takes 10 to 20 years off of your life."

Fourteen-year-old Mariann said both her parents smoke. She said, "I bug them every day about smoking. They've tried to quit a lot of times but it doesn't last.

She said he learned most about the dangers of smoking during a "big session" in school last year.

Eleven-year-old Marina Faupel said both of her parents smoke. She said she's trying to get them to quit. "Sometimes they try to quit but it doesn't last that long," she said.

Twelve-year-old Sylvia Anicker said she's had the same experience when trying to get her dad to stop smoking. She said she nags him "a lot" about his smoking. She said, "he's tried to quit several times but he always starts up again."

She said one of her big objections to smoking is the cost. "Many teens spend their money on tobacco. They are spending their lives on cigarettes," she said.

Most of the winners said they plan to buy clothes with their gift certificates. They can be redeemed at any of the Westfield Shopping Centers in St. Louis. However, Amber said she was going to wait until after your birthday late last month "to see what I didn't get."