#QuitTheStick Anti-Vaping Event Organized by Students for Students During Great American Smokeout on November 16
West Chester University marketing students are fuming that vaping is inhaling an entire
nation with more than 2.1 million youth and about one-third of college students currently
using e-cigarettes (National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2023 and Respiratory Care, 2023). The marketing students, who are members of the WESCON Student Marketing Club,
have banded together to help their college peers publicly commit to #QuitTheStick
during a high-energy event aligned with the annual Great American Smokeout, on Thursday,
November 16, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m., in the Academic Quad, located between University Avenue and West Rosedale Avenue in West Chester (campus map: https://www.wcupa.edu/campusMap/).
During the #QuitTheStick anti-vaping event, the marketing students will take center stage in the Academic Quad to:
- 3:00-3:15 p.m. — Introduce the audience to the 6ft. replica of the “Depression Stick,” a fluorescent orange, simulated vaping devise built by the marketing students to personify the “anxiety” that nicotine vaping is reported to induce. The “Depression Stick” was conceptualized by the Truth Initiative, a nonprofit health organization dedicated to educating today’s youth about the dangers associated with commercial tobacco and nicotine addiction.
- 3:15-3:30 p.m. — Give prizes & free, boldly designed anti-vape t-shirts to students who shout-out correct answers to quizzes about vaping, metal health & addiction.
- 3:30 p.m. — WCU Student Entrepreneur in Residence Zach Starr will discuss how his invention, The Quix, helps people quit vaping. Starr’s company, Quix Labs, invented the tobacco-free, nicotine-reduction focused smoking alternative that is now being sold in the U.K.
- 3:45 p.m. — Students will be given opportunities to “quit on-the-spot,” and resources from the Chester County Hospital and the Truth Initiative will be shared.
“This event is all about getting students to commit to quitting ‘the stick,’” said Tom Elmer, adjunct professor of marketing at West Chester University. “The members of the WESCON Student Marketing Club see nicotine-use increasing at an alarming rate in high school and college-aged students. We want it to stop and this experiential-learning event is a way for our marketing students to dig deep and reach out in a real way to help their peers. The marketing students want to make a difference to a generation of e-cigarette consumers who need to quit the stick for numerous long-term health reasons.”
The University’s College of Business and Public Management’s Marketing Department has made experiential learning a key component of its program. “By immersing our students in helping to solve real challenges, our goal is for WESCON student consultants to be trained and available to work on digital marketing issues/solutions for small businesses and nonprofits in the area,” Elmer added.