Community Health event challenges students to give up cigarettes in April
April is the month to quit for 20 CU students who are participating in the Community Health Education Department’s Quit and Win event.
With the aim of helping students to break their smoking habits, Community Health is offering participants the chance to win prizes from STA Travel and Flatiron Crossing Mall if they stay tobacco-free for the whole month, said Ann Schuster, a professional coordinator with the Community Health Education department.
The Quit and Win event, which officially began on April 2, is an effort to help the many students on campus who want to quit smoking before the end of college, said Robin Kolble, the manager of the Community Health Education Department.
“The event is really trying to reach out to students who are in the phase of thinking about quitting,” Kolble said. “This just provides that little incentive and also offers them support.”
Students who avoid tobacco for the month will have the chance to win a $500 gift certificate from STA travel or either a $250 gift certificate or $150 gift certificate from Flatirons Crossing Mall, Schuster said.
She said all participants who registered were also given many resources that they could use for support in the quitting process, including the phone numbers for quit lines, one-on-one counseling with Kolble, and information about dealing with triggers and making a plan to quit.
Speaking from experience, Kolble stressed the helpfulness of counseling for smokers who are having a hard time quitting.
“I was a smoker myself and had to quit,” she said. “People don’t appreciate how tough it is and so counseling is a place where you can talk about it.”
Based off of a very successful event at the University of Minnesota, this is the third year Community Health has coordinated a Quit and Win month, Kolble said.
Last year, 80 percent of participants stayed with the program, a success rate that Schuster said she is hoping for again.
Although there are fewer participants this year than in the program’s first year, Schuster said everyone who came by the registration booth that Community Health set up in the UMC seemed really excited.
Students in the Community Health department said they were also supportive of the program.
“I think that the Quit and Win month is a very good use of our resources,” said Noah Nevo, a junior integrative physiology major and student coordinator with the department. “This is an issue that pertains to a lot of students on campus and we want to advocate for their success in any way that we can.”
Lisa Jung, also a student coordinator, said she agreed on the importance of programs focusing on college students.
“People definitely form life habits here,” said Jung, a junior integrative physiology major. “It is important to educate students about it now so that they can make good decisions for the rest of their lives.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Emery Cowan at emerycowan@thecampuspress.com.
