UNION CITY, MI (WTVB) – Union City High School students joined other students around the country in sending out a strong anti smoking message Tuesday during National Kick Butts Day.
Students in Richard Maples’ Health classes researched and created tombstones for well known and famous people in history who died of a smoking related illnesses. They were displayed in the high school student lounge area.
They also researched and created displays on a variety of topics related to the health dangers of tobacco that were placed in the cafeteria. Maples and his students every year put out 300 flags on the school property which represent the number of individuals that die each day from a tobacco related illness in the state of Michigan.
The good news is that progress has been made in reducing the amount of smoking among teens and adults over the last 50 years. Youth smoking has been cut in half over the last two decades and only eight percent of high school students currently smoke.
