News and Events

The Highlands County Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) Chapter Start the Year in Grand Style!
November 20, 2015

The Highlands County SWAT Chapter has had a HUGE quarter! The 7 clubs that make up the Highlands County SWAT Chapter, had 12 total meetings and participated in several community events. Officers were elected in a few of the newer clubs, new SWAT t-shirts and other materials were handed out to members, recruitment events proved to be effective, and SWAT Sweethearts appeared in the High School Homecoming parades.

Students at our 4 middle schools participated in SWAT promoted Red Ribbon Week Events. They dressed in their SWAT shirts for one of the dress days, hung SWAT signs they created to advertise about Red Ribbon Week and the dangers of using tobacco. The students also participated in the statewide SWAT Hashtag challenge, by taking photos of themselves with their signs and using the designated hash tag provided by Youth Advocacy Board. Although, Highlands County didn’t make it in the top 10 like they did the month prior, they tried very hard and raised awareness while doing it!

Homecoming Parade

The Lake Placid High School Club and the Avon Park High School Club had the club president represent SWAT in the 2015 Lake Placid High School Homecoming Parade and the 2015 Avon Park High School Homecoming Parade! Signs were made and hung on the side of their flashy vehicles, which brought SWAT lots of attention. This is the first year that SWAT has had a representative in the homecoming parades in many years and the clubs now plan to do this every year!

Lake Placid High School SWAT chose to do a recruitment event this quarter, because it is a new club and participation started out very low! After the recruitment event, the club had 4 new members join and come to the meeting the following day. Starting a new club can be very challenging and the SWAT Advisors and members were glad to see that the recruitment efforts paid off and are looking forward to a very active and productive quarter 3!

Finally, Avon Park High School, planned and executed their first school awareness campaign that centered around the Great American Smoke Out! On the morning of November 19th, the students were decked out in SWAT gear and had signs made announcing GASO. The students formed a line and had the band playing behind them as they marched around campus raising their signs and awareness about the Great American Smoke Out! “It was fabulous, said Amanda John, Community Health Advocate, there was so much spirit and it was such a fantastic way to bring awareness to this national anti-tobacco holiday!”  
Great American Smoke Out

Great American Smoke Out

The clubs finished out this year with a bang and a lot to look forward to even more in 2016! For more information about SWAT, visit our SWAT Facebook page, or contact AJohn@QuitDoc.com