UF students took a stand against smoking Friday when they celebrated the Great American Smokeout on Turlington Plaza to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking.
The Great American Smokeout is a national, annual event put on by the American Cancer Society the Thursday before Thanksgiving and challenges smokers to not smoke for 24 hours.
Colleges Against Cancer, the group that coordinates Relay for Life, held the event on Turlington Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., said Michaela Valenti, the group’s mission education chairwoman.
“We know that it’s hard to quit smoking, so we want people to know that it is getting easier,” Valenti, a junior anthropology major, said. “There are more medications out now, more counseling and it is becoming more affordable.”
Valenti said 13 percent of UF students smoke, so one goal of the event was to ensure students were reminded of the dangers of smoking.
In order to get the message out, students were asked to spin a giant wheel to learn the disadvantages of smoking and ways to quit.
Club members also gave students fliers with information on how to quit smoking.
But knowing the dangers isn’t always enough.
Colleges Against Cancer member Alyssa Sandler, a junior education major, was dressed as a giant cigarette that read, “Put a Chomp on Tobacco.”
She said it is extremely frustrating for her when she sees people who know the harm they’re doing to their bodies but still continue to smoke.
“I had a grandma die of cancer, and I had cancer myself twice when I was younger,” she said. “I want people to quit so they don’t have to go through what my grandma and I went through.”
