Elk Grove students put their all into Smokeout

On the eve of the 31st Great American Smokeout, students from Elk Grove High School campaigned Wednesday night to get people to sign a no-smoking pledge.

Hanna Wiesmayer, 17, the project leader, said earlier the students would be passing out anti-smoking literature and seeking pledge signers at the Elk Grove Pavilion community center from 4 to 8 p.m.

The students will be doing the same at the high school during lunch hour today. Students prepared 1,000 goody bags to hand out to people signing the petitions, said Wiesmayer, who lives in Elk Grove Village.

In addition, Jim Dedera, a national expert on drug prevention education, will be speaking to students all day as part of their physical education class.

"The students at Elk Grove High School are extremely engaged and committed to this issue," said Jennifer Briggs, a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, which sponsors the day.

Following a steady decline that began in the late 1990s, smoking among high school students held steady at around one in four teens between 2003 and 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

More than 70 percent of smokers say they want to quit, but fewer than 10 percent are successful on any given attempt, the cancer society says. More information on quitting is available at (800) 227-2345, or cancer.org/greatamericans.

Teen smoking facts

• Every day, about 4,000 people under 18 try cigarettes and 1,500 become regular smokers

• About 23 percent of high school students are smokers, with the number evenly split between males and females

• About 26 percent of whites in high school smoke, while 13 percent of blacks do

• If you don't start smoking by age 18, odds are you never will

• A third of youth smokers will die prematurely from smoking-caused disease

Sources: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids