Youth Empowerment in Action (YEA), a program of the Center for Character & Citizenship at the University of Missouri St. Louis has worked with students in seventy-five schools on techniques for peer-to-peer mentoring and community assessment of social issues.  YEA’s mission is to empower youth to develop healthy habits and promote healthy communities through tobacco education, media literacy and civic engagement.

Hazelwood East GEAR UP students, who are members of YEA, researched the harmful effects of tobacco products and developed an anti-tobacco presentation, which included a video, to present to other students. On Friday May 15, 2009, the Hazelwood East GEAR UP YEA team, made a presentation to nearly fifty 6th graders at Hazelwood East Middle School.  

The middle-schoolers gathered in the gym and listened attentively to statistical data on the ill-effects of tobacco use and watched with wide-eyed wonder to photos and a video illustrating the same. To evaluate what the middle-schoolers had learned from the presentation, the YEA members held a question and answer session and played a game where students could earn points for giving the correct answer to questions about using tobacco.

 East Middle students eagerly participated in the game and many won a YEA tee-shirt. The student with the most points won a cash prize. Shakita Hardeway, YEA member and GEAR UP student said, “I’m surprised at how much they [the middle school students] learned today, I didn’t think they would pay attention, but they did.”

Dr. Sonya Ptah, East Middle Principal, told the YEA members, “Thank you for coming and giving our students such valuable information. I’d like for you to come back next year and speak with more of our students.”