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12-6-19 — District Hosts Student Summit on Vaping

Dec. 6, 2019 ~ With the goal of sharing information and gathering input and ideas from high school students, the Olathe Public Schools held a High School Summit on vaping on Dec. 4. Approximately 50 high school students, representing every high school in the district were selected to attend this event.

“Our goal was to provide education on vaping trends and the adverse effects of vaping, while also seeking input from students on what our district can do better and/or different in terms of education and prevention of students and parents,” Director of Activities and Athletics Tim Brady said. “We wanted to include a broad spectrum of students to learn more about the e-cig epidemic and give them time for collaboration on initiating interventions at their school.”

Students learned more about the adverse effects of vaping from a presentation from Kevin Kufeldt from Johnson County Mental Health. They also heard a first-hand account from a Kansas State University senior who was recently became addicted to vaping and experienced a medical emergency because of his vaping.

Students provided input on a variety of topics, including how our schools should respond to vaping, the best ways to share with students about the downfalls of vaping, how the message should be shared with middle school students, among others.