By Lisa Phillips

Tobacco Free Living Coordinator | Albemarle Regional Health Services 

The Columbia High School TRU (Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered.) Club gave a tobacco-free living presentation to the Tyrrell County School Board on Jan. 11. Students from the high school updated School Board members on their recent activities, including a Great American Smokeout educational activity that they implemented at their school on Nov. 16, 2015 and a YES! (Youth Empowered Solutions) training that they attended on Nov. 10, 2015 at Martin Community College.

The Columbia High School TRU Club, under the guidance of their Adult Leader Sarah Fox, actively educates their peers on campus and key leaders in the community on the health hazards of tobacco use and secondhand smoke. At the meeting, the youth members provided the School Board with new tobacco-free schools signage that includes the electronic cigarette or e-cigarette icon. The signage was funded by the Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH), a grant provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through Albemarle Regional Health Services. E-cigarettes are covered under the North Carolina tobacco-free schools policy and should be prohibited on campus and at all school related events for students, staff and visitors at all times. This signage will be placed on all school property in Tyrrell County.

E-cigarette use among middle and high school students in the U.S. doubled to 1.78 million in 2012, compared to the year before, according to the CDC.