LISBON — Students at Philip W. Sugg Middle School researched and educated peers, parents and teachers on a modern day headline news topic of smoking by joining the national “Kick Butt” campaign.

Kick Butts Day was developed to inform students and adults about the risks of becoming a regular tobacco user. The students made public announcements over the intercom every morning during the week regarding the dangers of using tobacco products. Students learned that by smoking two packs of cigarettes every week for the next five years they would end up spending more than $4,000, an amount that would pay for one year of junior college, or buy a good used car after they graduated from high school.

Students also interviewed staff members and other students about smoking and created posters using quotations from the interviews. They displayed these posters in every classroom and around the school hallways.

During lunch all students were handed a flyer listing 16 different chemicals found in tobacco smoke. A few of those chemicals are ammonia, which is found in household cleaners, acetone found in nail polish, and arsenic, which is found in rat poison.

For information on programs and other projects in Lisbon schools visit Community Resource News in Lisbon Schools on Facebook, call 754-0021 or email [email protected].