News and Events
Highlands County Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) Chapter Wraps up Another Productive Year!
June 1, 2022
SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) is Florida's statewide youth organization working to mobilize, educate and equip Florida youth to revolt against and de-glamorize Big Tobacco. SWAT is a united movement of empowered youth working towards a tobacco free future. SWAT works to change the social norms associated with tobacco. This means we want to change the way people think about tobacco… making it less desirable, less acceptable, and less accessible.
SWAT Youth accomplish this by advocating for change in local policies that affect how tobacco is marketed, how it is sold, and where it can be used. SWAT members can typically expect to participate in a wide range of activities including community education and outreach, public speaking, collecting data, and media advocacy.
While the 2021-2022 year was challenging on many levels, our clubs did their best, while being respectful of the social distancing measures they continue to encounter, to remain as active as possible getting valuable information out to their peers and our community. A few local projects our SWAT Youth were able to conduct this past year included participating in the annual Highlands County Fair, educating peers about various national tobacco control holidays, including Not A Lab Rat Day, hosting educational bulletin boards in their schools, presenting anti-tobacco/vaping messaging at the Sebring Soda Fest, and many more.
Their favorite event this year was the Sebring Soda Festival, where they were able to showcase their outreach through anti-tobacco and vaping messages, while also getting to serve the community with an array of sweet and tangy craft sodas! It was a fun experience, and they look forward to this event every year!
We are beyond proud of the effort our SWAT youth exerted advocating for their health over the past year. These youth pushed past the excuses of an ongoing nationwide pandemic and dedicated themselves to ending the trend of tobacco use and creating the first tobacco free generation.
To learn more about SWAT visit our website www.swatflorida.com or contact Amanda at ajohn@quitdoc.com
