MACHIAS, Maine — At age 15, Suzie James did something she said was “stupid.”
She started smoking.
At a health expo to mark national Kick Butts Day on Wednesday, James told Rose Gaffney Elementary School students in grades four to eight not to follow in her footsteps.
“I don’t want you to think it’s OK,” said James, site coordinator for EdGE, a youth development program of the Maine Sea Coast Mission.
James led one of about a dozen 20-minute workshops that made up the health expo. Working in the school gym, she had students participate in a relay race intended to encourage physical activity as an alternative to smoking.
After the race, students gathered around James, who told them she is a smoker. James said she has tried to quit regularly for the last 40 years or so but has always been unsuccessful.
Saying she and and her husband are not heavy smokers, James asked students to guess how much they spent each week on cigarettes.
“Ten dollars,” said one student.
“Twenty,” said another.
No, she said. She and her husband spend $128 a week on cigarettes. That adds up to more than $500 a month, which James pointed out would be enough for a payment on an “awesome truck.”
In another health expo workshop, Alastair Lawson of the Maine Youth Action Network spoke to students about the addictive properties of nicotine.
Some of the workshops were student run. Eighth-grader Ryan Conley led “Stomp Movies,” in which he played two short children’s videos and students stomped their feet every time the movies referenced tobacco use, including smoking or chewing it. Both clips — one from “101 Dalmations” and the other a Mickey Mouse cartoon — led to multiple stomps.
The idea was to illustrate how big tobacco companies target youths in using the $43.5 million they spend annually in Maine on marketing, said teacher Shannon Micklus, who organized the event with the help of about a dozen students.
Micklus said the idea for the expo originated in January when students were talking about issues in the community. Because the students believe tobacco use is big problem locally, they scheduled their health expo for national Kick Butts Day, Micklus said.
The Rose Gaffney event was one of more than 1,000 events nationwide, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. About 15 events were scheduled in Maine, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids map.
In Maine, tobacco use claims 2,400 lives and costs $811 million in health care bills each year. Currently, 12.8 percent of Maine’s high school students smoke, according to the campaign.
Micklus said she believes the expo was a success.
“[Students] were happy they’re not in math class,” she quipped.