My name is Sam and I’m the 24/7 Campaign Manager! This year the 24/7 campaign embarked on a new effort to reach youth at a younger age by providing presentations to elementary and middle school students around New Mexico. These presentations aim to cover the dangers of nicotine products on the body and brain, what addiction is, and how 24/7 helps to keep New Mexico Schools tobacco and nicotine-free to keep students, staff and visitors safe at school. We did our first presentations back in September at Lydia-Rippey Elementary and in October at Algodones Elementary. In this blog, I’ll share some insight into how those went!

I was very nervous the first time I presented this information to the younger students. Some of my concerns were regarding if the content would be digestible for second and third graders, which were the first groups we were presenting to, and about potential technical difficulties that could occur, especially presenting before such large groups of kids. However, the presentations went great!

At Lydia Rippey Elementary, there were around 70-80 students per grade which was intimidating, but luckily we had the support of all of the teachers who were present. These teachers helped us with classroom management, splitting students into groups and with getting support cards passed around. 

The worries about the content not being digestible for kids of that age were eased during the first presentation to the 2nd graders. The students not only were able to participate and engage with the content, but many of them were very knowledgeable already and excited to bring what they learned back to their parents, friends and siblings who smoked or vaped. 

In November at Algodones Elementary it was a similar experience.The teachers provided support and the students were easily able to engage. We did not have any major technical difficulties for either of the schools, thanks to being as prepared as we could and having adequate support. This sets an exciting path forward for 24/7 and we look forward to partnering with more elementary and middle schools in the future!

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