By Tom Mongelli
Well over a thousand sixth-graders from Ocean County schools turn away from a life of smoking addiction at the Ritacco Center. New Jersey REBEL's annual "Choose To Be Smoke-Free" shore event brings youngsters together for valuable information about personal responsibility, courage, and good health choices
It's co-sponsored by the Ocean County Community Partnership for a Smoke Free New Jersey. Albert Petroni, based in Lakewood, has been associated with the program since its inception in 1999.
"They're essentially going to put the message out to big tobacco that they're no longer going to be manipulated," Petroni says. "They're going to take control of their lives, make a pledge to themselves and to their friends to be smoke-free."
The event also treats kids to an interactive show by the Cameo Cast Theater, which has contributed in each of the past three years.
Petroni says that sixth-graders are the most vulnerable to suggestions, from others their ownage as well as from media sources such as advertising - and they're filled with the uncertainties that accompany entry into junior high school. REBELL is composed of youngsters in the same age bracket, up through middle teens.
"If we can impart to them peer pressure refusal skills and youth advocacy, to just say 'no,' then down the line, they won't be as vulnerable to that kind of destructive behavior," Petroni says.
By Tom Mongelli
Questions/Comments? Email to wobmnews@wobm.com.
Well over a thousand sixth-graders from Ocean County schools turn away from a life of smoking addiction at the Ritacco Center. New Jersey REBEL's annual "Choose To Be Smoke-Free" shore event brings youngsters together for valuable information about personal responsibility, courage, and good health choices
It's co-sponsored by the Ocean County Community Partnership for a Smoke Free New Jersey. Albert Petroni, based in Lakewood, has been associated with the program since its inception in 1999.
"They're essentially going to put the message out to big tobacco that they're no longer going to be manipulated," Petroni says. "They're going to take control of their lives, make a pledge to themselves and to their friends to be smoke-free."
The event also treats kids to an interactive show by the Cameo Cast Theater, which has contributed in each of the past three years.
Petroni says that sixth-graders are the most vulnerable to suggestions, from others their ownage as well as from media sources such as advertising - and they're filled with the uncertainties that accompany entry into junior high school. REBELL is composed of youngsters in the same age bracket, up through middle teens.
"If we can impart to them peer pressure refusal skills and youth advocacy, to just say 'no,' then down the line, they won't be as vulnerable to that kind of destructive behavior," Petroni says.
By Tom Mongelli
Questions/Comments? Email to wobmnews@wobm.com.
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