Smyrna High School has been awarded an $8,854 mini-grant for smoking prevention. The American Lung Association of Delaware announced the smoking prevention mini-grant recipients for 2008-09 on October 29. A team of community leaders reviews and selects recipients. This year they chose 31 Delaware organizations who will receive mini-grants totaling $231,109.
   

The American Lung Association of Delaware manages the program, which is made possible by the Delaware Division of Public Health's Tobacco Prevention Community Contract through support and funding from the Delaware Health Fund.  
   

Cindy Zalewski, program specialist for community outreach from the American Lung Association of Delaware, said each organization can apply for up to $10,000. Smyrna applied for $8,854 and received full funding.
   

The agencies that apply are graded on the programs and projects they plan on creating. In the mini-grant proposal, the organization proposes a budget on how much they think they need for different programs.
   

The mini-grant program was established to enable Delaware communities to develop their own smoking prevention. This program hopes to educate over 10,000 Delawareans about the dangers of tobacco use.
   

“If we can teach a 10-year-old to refuse tobacco for reasons he really understands, then we have protected him from tobacco for life,” said Deborah Brown, vice president of community outreach and advocacy for the American Lung Association of the Mid Atlantic.
   

Part of the  grant money Smyrna High received will be used for counseling hours in the Wellness Center at the high school for students who use tobacco products. The Wellness Center is run by and sponsored by Bayhealth.
   

Sandi Voss, a nurse practitioner at the Wellness Center who works for Bayhealth, said applied for the grant on behalf of the Smyrna School District. The funds will be used not only at the high school but for programs at Smyrna Middle School and John Bassett Moore Intermediate School as well.
   

Some of the money will be used to pay for pages in the students’ academic planners that have anti-tobacco messages.
   

The students come up with the messages that are selected for the planners. Then the message is printed with the photo of the student who thought of the message.
   

Voss said students carry their planners with them every day to write down assignment reminders in each class, so the messages and photos will be frequently seen.
   

“They can look at it as their 15 minutes of fame,” she said. “They will remember that forever.”
   

The money will also go towards educational incentives.
   

Voss said one of the incentives is lip balm with these words on the container: “It looks better on your lips than a cigarette.”