ANGLOPHONE WEST SCHOOL DISTRICT
Central New Brunswick Academy students receive Community Health Recognition Award

Middle school students from the Central New Brunswick Academy in Boiestown recently received a 2019 Community Health Recognition Award from Horizon Health for their efforts to prevent tobacco use and vaping at their school and in the community.

Through Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), the students reached out to their peers about smoke-free living and also began sharing their message at a variety of community events. 

The group was first formed by local social worker Lynsey Wilson Norrad in 2015 after receiving a Take Action on Tobacco Use grant from the Department of Social Development.

"We started off small with two Grade 6 students and one Grade 7 student,"  said Wilson Norrad. "By the 2016-2017 school year, the group had started to expand as the students became very active. They currently have 20 regular members with plans to expand their reach. Some of our original founding members have moved on to high school. They want to keep working on tobacco-free and smoke-free living, so they will become school ambassadors at the high school who champion projects and provide peer mentorship."

This school year, the group at Central New Brunswick Academy plans to start doing classroom presentations to address vaping rates among youth across the province. Their presentation will be given to elementary students first, and as their public speaking skills improve, the teens will start doing the presentation in middle and high schools. They have received funding from Health Canada to accomplish this important project.

Principal Barb Long expressed pride in the students' leadership and success and their work to promote wellness in the school and community.