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Tobacco Bus of Horrors visits Fillmore Middle School
 The Tobacco Bus By Anonymous — Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
  Art by Mattias VanBreemen  Art by Jacob Alvarez  Art by Emmanuel Roldan  Art by Daniel Vaca  Art by Nancy Hurtado  Tobacco Bus The Tobacco Bus of Horrors rolled into town again this year to visit Fillmore Middle School. Ronda Reyes-Deutsch, FMS school counselor, welcomed Carolyn Consoli and Johnny Gomez from the Ventura County Health Care Agency that educates 6th graders on the dangers of tobacco. 6th grade docents led the tours for their peers sharing shocking information like there are 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke and 70 of them are known to cause cancer. The Tobacco Industry uses movies for advertising to influence kids to use tobacco products. It is estimated that a thousand children are influenced to start using tobacco every day! The outside of the bus has been painted with murals and the inside of the bus shows past and present advertising in the media on luring young people to begin smoking to replace those who have died from tobacco use. Also, the students got to walk through a mouth of a smoker (a structure built inside the bus). Each 6th grade class was divided into 5 groups. Docents then took the students to a designated location around or inside the bus to engage the children in conversations such as what is second hand smoke and learning that there is such a thing as third hand smoke. Illegal sales to minors (anyone under 18 years of age) was discussed and a phone number was given to report the criminal activity. Some children had a family member or close friend that smokes. The bus has a number on it to call to help those addicted to nicotine stop. Another conversation on one side of the bus was that cigarette butts are the majority of litter in parks and beaches. Fillmore parks still permit smoking! Did you know that it takes about 30 years for a cigarette filter to decompose? Or did you know that a cigar can have as much tobacco as a pack of cigarettes? Some clever phrases also are painted on the outside of the bus: If you see someone selling to a child under 18 years of age, please report it. The number to call is: 1-800-5-ASK-4-ID If you or a loved one wants to kick this nasty habit, please call the County at 201-STOP. 6th Grade Docents for Wednesday, April 4, 2012: 6th Grade Docents for Thursday, April 5, 2012 FMS Art classes facilitated by Doris Nichols also helped raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco by creating Anti-Tobacco collages. Daniel Vaca, Mattias VanBreemen, Nancy Hurtado, Jacob Alvarez and Emmanuel Roldan are among the students that chose to create artwork sending messages to not use tobacco. Thank you Tobacco Bus of Horrors! |
