Shoe Display Discourages Teen Smoking

Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois had 1,200 pairs of shoes scattered throughout the front lawn last Friday. Tobacco prevention staff from the DuPage County Health Department spread the shoes across the lawn as part of Project 1200, as a way to illustrate to students the number of people who die each day in the United States from tobacco and secondhand smoke.

The shoes were donated by parents throughout the school district and will be donated to Soles4Souls after the display is over.

Signs were also placed next to the shoes that read "each pair of shoes represents an American who has died due to tobacco-related illness" and "cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in America."

Students for Students - a substance-abuse prevention club on campus - partnered with the Health Department to sponsor the project. Gilda Ross, the club's adviser, said club members wanted to put focus on alcohol and other drugs this year.

Because most smokers begin using cigarettes as teenagers, Ross said raising awareness of the dangers of tobacco is urgent at Glenbard and other high schools.

Very few people begin using tobacco as adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost all first-time tobacco use has occurred by the time youth graduate from high school.