San Jose, CA - Santa Clara County youth are using their influence to impact their peers positively. Tobacco and substance use prevention are among the causes they are deeply committed to.
“We want [youth] to feel inspired by the different organizations that are working towards such positive things in our community and potentially feel encouraged to join and collaborate with some of these organizations too,” said Anagha, a PAAC member organizing the conference.
While youth cigarette smoking has declined since the nineties, there is a substantial portion of youth using other tobacco products, including vapes. According to data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2.80 million middle and high school students reported using a tobacco product. In Santa Clara County, one in ten youth use tobacco products.
“A lot of the time the youth don’t know what these products are doing to their body,” said Lindsey White, a School Climate Specialist with TUPE.
White added that a traditional cigarette has around 1 milligram of nicotine, whereas vaping devices have 300-600 milligrams in one device.
“Students are going through them within a few days to a couple of weeks,” White said. “Little do they know they just inhaled 600 milligrams of nicotine. It’s very addictive.”
“[Youth] think it’s different from smoking a cigarette because there’s no tobacco,” added Marina Torres, a Youth Health Education Specialist with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPHD). She added youth are surprised to learn about the marketing strategies of vapes geared toward them when she tables at local community events.
Education about the harmful effects of tobacco use on youth is done in partnership with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
“TUPE plays a really important role, especially in the school setting,” said Matt Savage, Program Manager with SCCPHD. “As the public health department, we also play an important role educating parents, educating the community, educating community stakeholders, and ensuring the entire community is working together and focused on preventing tobacco use and other harmful substances.”
Torres said the partnership supports planning educational events and amplifies efforts to involve youth in the space to provide TUPE and SCCPHD with perspectives that make their work effective.
“[Youth] have friends or family members who were or are smokers and they see how that impacts not only the person who smokes but the people around them,” Torres said. “They want to alleviate the impacts for those people around a smoker.”
That’s why SCCPHD looks forward to participating in this year’s Elevate Youth Conference. The first conference, held in 2024, was inspired by a youth summit organized and hosted by the county health department.
The youth are bringing the lessons learned from their first conference.
“We’re organizing it a bit better based on improvement from last year,” said Ava, a PAAC member organizing the conference.
Ava added that an estimated 15 non-profits will attend to provide resources to youth. The conference's programming includes a college student panel and workshops. It also doubles as potential recruitment for PAAC.
The program is open to all high school students in Santa Clara County. Students learn how to become leaders in offering peer-to-peer support to spread tobacco and drug-free messages on campus.
“We want to give them a platform to learn about what’s going on aside from their school environments and how they can directly interact with their communities in a different way,” said Ava.
The PAAC group for the 2024-25 school year is at its largest since its creation in 2020, with 25 students from districts across the county. In past years, the PAAC was capped at 20 students; however, the number of student applications has increased. Senior Specialist for TUPE Natalie Andrade added that the increase in PAAC members has encouraged more student involvement.
“It’s so amazing to see when students have an idea or get inspired by something and then they want to do it themselves,” said Andrade. “It’s really admirable that they have the drive to do that.”
Photo: PAAC students ###
About the Santa Clara County Office of Education
Working collaboratively with school and community partners, the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) is a regional service agency committed to serving, inspiring, and promoting student and public school success. The SCCOE is a premier service organization driven by the core principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and partnership. For more information about the Santa Clara County Office of Education, please visit www.sccoe.org and follow us @SCCOE on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 
