www.getswat.com The Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) program targets youth in grades 4 through 6. It is a community and school-based education program that allows youths to take active roles in tobacco issues within their communities. Students learn the dangers of tobacco while becoming empowered to take roles in teaching others. While the program is designed for students to have a good time, its real value is that it teaches students to develop good critical thinking, communication and decision-making skills. Law enforcement agencies, schools, churches and community organizations collaborate to establish and promote SWAT Teams within their communities.
Unique to Mississippi's SWAT program is school-based interactive learning that educates youth about the health consequences of tobacco use. The activities are incorporated into existing curricula, such as math and science classes. Since training began in the fall of 1999, thousands of teachers have been trained to incorporate these materials into the classroom. Responses indicate increasing potential for teachers to reach this age group with repeated programmatic interventions that make lasting differences in knowledge, attitudes and behavior.
SWAT’s school education programs are reinforced through community SWAT Teams. Through the faith-based community, after-school programs and various youth organizations, SWAT Teams are filtering their reach into the youth culture all over Mississippi. Adult sponsors are trained in how to offer these materials to their youth. The Partnership provides incentives to the more than 15,000 SWAT Team members throughout the state.
Nothing is as eye catching as a multicolored VW Bug — The Partnership's SWAT-mobile — and the tobacco-free activities that go with it. "SWAT on the Road" travels to elementary and middle schools all over the state conducting fun, educational presentations to Mississippi youth. During the presentation, students win prizes for their knowledge of facts regarding tobacco use. This presentation is a fun way to offer them healthy, tobacco-free alternatives and drive the SWAT message home.
For more information about SWAT, visit
www.getswat.com.
