NEWS

‘Tutoring Against Tobacco’ program seeks volunteers

By AMY PHILBECK
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

CHAPEL HILL -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill senior Jim Doggett grew up watching his mother struggle to quit smoking, and that memory inspired him to create a program designed to teach children to lead a healthier life by not smoking.

"I began this program to give Carolina students the chance to help local teen-agers avoid making the same mistake that she once made and now regrets so much," he said.

"Tutoring Against Tobacco" began two years ago as a part of UNC’s Carolina Cancer Focus, an organization that works to improve cancer awareness on the campus and in the community. The program is seeking volunteers to serve as tutors for this academic year.

The group of tutors, primarily made up of UNC students, travels to Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill this fall to work with sixth-graders. For several weeks, the tutors visit the school and help students who have either been selected by teachers or administrators or have decided to come on their own, Doggett said.

After getting to know the students, the tutors will begin a series of four lessons focused on analyzing tobacco advertising.

Elyse Zarrinnam, program co-director, said students already know smoking can cause emphysema but have no idea what emphysema is. To illustrate, the group shows Julia Roberts smoking to calm herself in "My Best Friend’s Wedding" and then shows a public service announcement in which a young girl talks about her mother’s fight against emphysema.

"The contradiction between the two depictions hits the kids as much as it would an adult," said Zarrinnam. "We don’t tell them what to think. The kids teach themselves and each other."

Doggett originally worked with Dr. Kurt Ribisl, an assistant professor at UNC’s School of Public Health, to focus the lessons on helping students assess tobacco advertising.

Brittney Alston, a sixth-grader who has participated in the lessons, said she had learned about the dangers of smoking in health class and knew people who smoked.

"We just talk about it more here," Alston said. "I know I don’t want to smoke. I don’t want it to mess up my goals and my career."

By the end of the tutoring, these remarks represent what most children were saying. And that’s what Doggett and this year’s program directors said they hope the kids will keep saying – even once they’re offered that first cigarette.

For more information about the program, visit the group’s World Wide Web site at www.unc.edu/~jdoggett. Those interested in volunteering for the program should contact Zarrinnam at shirinz@email.unc.edu; for more information on bringing the program to a local school, contact Dana Leventhal at dleven@hotmail.com.

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"Tutoring Against Tobacco" contacts: Elyse Zarrinnam, (704) 967-7362; or Dana Leventhal, (919) 967-3502