Youth Board member Mariah chats with the press again!

Check-out the article here: 

PHOTO: Mariah Geiger of Farmington High School (right) and other metro area high school students hold a sign representing the 1,200 people who die every day in the United States from tobacco use and secondhand smoke. Geiger and FHS student Elizabeth Roorda (not pictured), both of whom will be sophomores this fall, joined 100 other teens in St. Paul on June 13 to demonstrate against the tobacco industry. - Photo submitted

 

by Jessica Harper
Thisweek Newspapers

Farmington High School students Mariah Geiger and Elizabeth Roorda, both of whom will be sophomores this fall, gathered with 100 other Minnesota teens in St. Paul on June 13 to “air out the tobacco industry’s dirty laundry.”

“We’re anti big tobacco, because we don’t like how tobacco companies market their products to teens,” Geiger said.

Geiger and Roorda said they joined the Catalysts, a group of teen leaders dedicated to addressing public-health issues as a way to make a difference in their community.

The three-day event started at the University of Minnesota, where teens constructed a moving display made of T-shirts and posters to represent the 1,200 people who die each day in the United States from tobacco use and secondhand smoke. 

In addition to raising awareness, Geiger said, the group’s goal was to send the message to the tobacco industry that they refuse to be targets.

This is the second year the teens have been involved in the organization. 

Roorda said the harmful effects of tobacco use have personally affected her as she watched her grandfather become ill with lymphoma and other health problems associated with chewing tobacco.

“Getting rid of the influence as a teen makes it easier,” she said. “If someone starts smoking as a teen, it ruins their life.”

Both girls said they feel they are targeted through movies and advertisements that glamorize smoking.

Geiger said she started to see students exchanging cigarettes in eighth grade.

“They know it’s bad for them, but do it because they think it’s cool,” Roorda said.

Geiger and Roorda said they fight the influence by staying active in choir, band, swimming, Student Council theater and other positive activities. 
 

 

http://www.thisweeklive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2353&Itemid=44

Tagged:
summit 1200 activism media