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Event pushes for smoke-free campus
Springfield News-Leader
11/20/2009
Missouri State University senior Spencer Wade surprised his girlfriend, Sandra Virga, on Thursday by announcing they were going to the Great American Smokeout on campus.
The event -- sponsored by Students of Missouri State Against Smoking Hazards, or SMASH -- offered "quit kits" that included stop-smoking gum, T-shirts, popcorn, and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on the lawn in front of Plaster Student Union.
Wade, who has tried to quit, said smoking became a habit when he started lighting up while driving Ozark County roads near his hometown of Gainesville.
"That led into smoking everywhere," he said.
Encouraging people like Wade was one objective of the MSU effort. It was part of the nationwide Great American Smokeout campaign sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
SMASH also wants to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and promote the idea of making all of the campus including outdoor areas -- smoke-free, event co-coordinator Sarah Durnbaugh said.
Participating in SMASH meshes well with her graduate student work on a master's of public health, but fighting smoking also is personal, Durnbaugh said.
"I have lots of relatives who are smokers," she said. "A grandmother is dying from emphysema; she can't live a healthy life. It's already affected me."
Alysia Coles of Strawberry, Ark., didn't hesitate when asked to sign a form supporting a smoke-free campus.
She doesn't like walking to class behind people who are smoking, Coles said.
"Smelly, and it's a health concern," she said.
As for Wade, he surrendered his cigarettes for the day in exchange for a hamburger.
Girlfriend Virga said she quit after setting a specific date and sticking to it.
"He plans on quitting, eventually," she said of Wade.
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