Anoka SADD Conference and "It's No Joke, Say No to Smoke" campaign packets given out to schools in the Tri-State Area

After the incredible Northern Lights SADD Conference in Jamestown, North Dakota I traveled to the Anoka SADD Conference to speak about "It's No Joke, Say NO to Smoke." It was great follow up to the Jamestown Conference and a way to exercise my new position on the Northern Lights Advisory Board.

I was able to meet some very inspiring people while I was there! I had the complete honor to chat with the Keynote Speaker Cara Filler who was raised in Vancouver Canada, and now resides in Oregon. When I first met her she joked that we could be sisters. I was overwhelmed by her positive and unique presence. Throughout her keynote she shared her experience of how she lost her twin sister the day after their 18th birthday. I have meet some very amazing people in the last week from the different SADD events I have traveled to.

After Cara spoke with us for about an hour I had my first workshop. I had a great group of people from eleven different schools in Minnesota. I have had such a priveledge to reach teens my age and spread more awareness of teen smoking prevention at many different SADD Events on a Tri-State Level in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. I also was able to give another workshop that afternoon and had the oppurtunity to speak to a highway patrol expert.

At the tri-state SADD events I have been at I have handed out my "It's No Joke, Say NO to Smoke" Curriculum packets to 35 different schools. Each packet contains tools in which students can bring back to their schools to implement the "It's No Joke, Say NO to Smoke," Teen Smoking Prevention Plan. There are things from resources, reproduible pages, possible smoking situations, statistics, a letter from me, and a interview video that I conducted with my grandpa, who suffers from COPD, and my dad who is a current smoker.

I'm so excited for what SADD is doing to help students make good decisions for a lifetime. Not smoking goes hand in hand with SADD and I'm so excited for how SADD and "It's No Joke, Say NO to Smoke" is going to positivley affect my generation.

God Bless,
Paige