Students learn dangers of substance abuse at smoke-free campus campaign Valentine’s party
On Monday, Feb. 12, Geneseo’s sector of the Breathe Easy Campaign threw a smoke-free campus Valentine's party in the Union ballroom. The event allowed students to make “Valentine's Day cards, enjoy some snacks, and gain some skills to stop using tobacco products.” They supplied all materials for card making along with candies and chocolate to add to the cards (or eat yourself). While making your loved ones personalized Valentine's Day cards, you could eat free pizza and enjoy music with friends and Breathe Easy interns.
The Breathe Easy Campaign is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of cigarettes, tobacco, and vaping for both students and employees. The goal is to provide education and resources for people who do want to quit. The Addiction Counseling and Prevention Program Coordinator, Pam Kosmowski, explained how she has redesigned the position. “When I started here at Geneseo the previous person in this role just focused on student conduct,” said Kosmowski.
Essentially, the previous rule stated that if you were caught drinking, you would receive a conduct policy violation. “I wanted to focus more on prevention education,” said Kosmowski, explaining that she is not here to take away your experience as a college student. “I want you to have fun, but I want you to be safe… so I kind of evolved the role into more of a prevention.” Though she still offers counseling and individual and group counseling, she wanted to be able to host events to raise awareness.
A major part of the Breathe Easy Campaign is the student interns. Pam Kosmowski stated, “What I appreciate about having student interns is students don't want to talk to me necessarily, they want to hear from their peers.” The students are here and are aware of what is going on around campus. “They're a great source for me. To know what the trends are. And then I can take that information and tweak our education.” One intern exclaimed, “There's a lot of misinformation out there. So I'm glad to be part of this program where I can learn the right information.”
While talking to junior neuroscience major and Breathe Easy Campaign intern, Zander Purcell, I learned what Breathe Easy is all about. Through the Truth Initiative campaign, Geneseo is trying to become one of the smoke-free campuses around America. Zander explained “It's not exactly anti-vaping, anti-smoking. It's not supposed to shame you at all.” he even stated that there are plenty of people in the campaign who are smokers themselves. “We just try to educate about the problems with addiction and the problems with tobacco, vapes, and nicotine.”
As for the Valentine's card making, Zander said they set up the event to let people have some fun while learning about substance safety. While talking to a group of students who were not affiliated with the club, yet had attended the event, we got to discuss how non-Breathe Easy members feel about the campaign. Junior Communications major Taylor Kelly, along with junior Psychology major Giliana Miranda said that they agree with the Breathe Easy Campaign’s goal.
If you are a student struggling with cigarettes, tobacco, and vaping addiction feel free to reach out to Pam Kosmowski through her phone number 245-6060, or visithttps://www.geneseo.edu/health/ACP.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Abigail Cornelius