Warwick health students' video explores real-life dangers of vaping
Posted: November 13, 2024
Students sharing vapes, discouraging use of vapes and living with the consequences of vaping gone wrong are all part of an impactful public service announcement recently created by Warwick High School students.
Members of Warwick's chapter of Future Health Professionals, formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America, made the video just before a very similar scenario happened when students in a neighboring school division became ill after vaping at school in early October. As part of local news coverage, several Warwick students who worked on the video were interviewed by a local TV station about their PSA and the importance of vaping awareness.
The student-led HOSA club is co-curricular with Warwick's Governor's Health Sciences Academy and its members are very interested in health and healthcare.
"As president of this organization here at Warwick, I just found it really exciting that we were able to start a student initiative about a problem that is very serious in our country because it's taking a toll on many teens' health and lives in general," said Rudolph Vazquez-Lozada, a senior at Warwick.
"Because if we're able to start a student initiative to show our students' point of view of vaping, we can probably prevent it or at least slow it down. It's just ironic how our PSA, sadly, became a reality with those students."
When it hits close to home, it becomes more of a reality, said Michelle Desrosiers, teacher in Warwick's GHSA and adviser for HOSA.
"Sharing the video with my classes sparked a lot of discussion, which is great because then I realized they really don't have a clue that this could happen," Desrosiers said. "They're like: 'Oh, no, we get pods from the vape store, it's not going to have anything in it.' That's not true; it's simply not.
"There's been plenty of times where it is laced. You don't know what's in it; you don't. Unless you sit there and do a chemical compound analysis, you're not going to know."
Approximately 15 students in Warwick's HOSA club quickly researched vaping's potential impacts including fentanyl poisoning, decided on the plot, wrote the script and filmed their fellow student actors for the PSA within a couple of weeks. The project was for an entry in the The Truth About Teen Vaping PSA competition for 2024 HOSA Day at the Virginia State Fair, where it received Honorable Mention.
In less than the time limit of 60 seconds, viewers are taken inside the world of teen vaping and how its dynamics can affect both health and relationships.
Senior Gwenyth Conaway wrote the script and Vazquez-Lozada directed the production. Originally written with girls as the main characters, the story was changed to feature boys after more boys than girls were willing to be actors, Conaway said. This created an opportunity to emphasize the social bonding and adrenaline rush aspects that make fast friends of those who have vaping in common.
The whole group had input into the dialogue and events, with major and minor changes made along the way to create a realistic depiction of everyday interactions around vaping. The classroom scene featuring a conflicted conversation was considered the video's most important and received particular attention and tweaks.
"We all just came together with our collective experience and just things like, well they don't say this, they say that," Conaway said. "If I say this it'll be more real. Everyone put themselves in the shoes of people they know and were like, let me take on this persona and try to get into how they act."
Elmer Sierra-Velasquez played the lead role of Sergio with Fernanda Bravo as the lead of a fellow student concerned about his vaping use. Norberto Aleman-Bravo and Dominic Nezey had speaking roles as fellow vape users Elmer interacts with.
Three videographers using cell phones, three video editors and numerous supporting acting roles were among the parts students played in making the video. They helped stage scenes, set up props and sit in as side characters.
It's hoped that this fictional portrayal can spark conversations and bring increased awareness to the dangers of a habit that teens may see as harmless, students said.
"A lot of people think when they get into vaping it's just this fun thing or they're just trying to kind of rebel in a way, they're not thinking about how it could really harm them," Conaway said. "Everyone knows that things with nicotine are bad for them. We've grown up in an age of post cigarettes.
"Everyone knows this, but it's kind of like they don't really know how bad it could be."
