Greendale High School Students Will Serve on Anti-Tobacco Statewide Youth Board

Two students have been selected to serve on the FACT Youth Board of Directors. FACT (Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco) is Wisconsin’s youth-driven tobacco prevention program that holds over 6,000 members statewide.

Brittany Schultz, a junior, and Gibby O’Keefe, a senior, are empowering their peers and taking a stand using creative activities that educate other teens on how they are targets of the tobacco industry.

As FACT Board Members, Schultz and O’Keefe recruit new members, implement activities, meet with local elected officials in Greendale and Madison, and are instrumental in the creation of a public education campaign.

The campaign works towards exposing how the tobacco industry uses colorful packaging and candy flavoring to sell their tobacco products. 

“I think that by making the packaging colorful they are clearly trying to target towards teenagers and youth in America,” Schultz said.  “And by doing so, they are only looking for a profit and trying to create new customers because they know that the older customers are dying out.” 

Since FACT began in 2001, youths like Schultz and O’Keefe have been working tirelessly to reduce tobacco’s burden on Wisconsin youth. 

“No adult is going to want a grape flavored cigarillo,” O’Keefe said. “These flavors appeal to teenagers and make kids nostalgic towards the flavors familiar to them from childhood. It is a very sneaky way to get someone addicted.”

Over the last 10 years, the smoking rate among Wisconsin high school youth fell 46%, however, the tobacco industry continues to market to youth.  An estimated one in five Wisconsin high school youth are still hooked on their deadly products. That’s a statistic FACT members are committed to reducing.

“I am more behind the scenes, so I work it into my every day conversation. For instance, I work at a coffee shop and spread the message through word of mouth,” O’Keefe said.

Schultz is completing Factivisms, which are activities that promote FACT’s message. She has given presentations to teens at the and in health classes to remind students that tobacco companies are manipulating teens.

FACT is part of the Department of Health Service’s statewide tobacco prevention efforts and is locally coordinated by Greendale School District’s GAP Committee and the Greendale Health Department. For more information, visitwww.fightwithFACT.com.