The City of Casey has teamed up with students from local secondary schools to deliver a series of community safety initiatives that centre around the growing dangers and risks in youth vaping.
Delivered by Council through its Safer Cities Project, the annual community safety initiative empowers young people to become agents for change on safety issues that affect them, their peers and their community.
Collectively over 80 students from Fountain Gate Secondary College, St Francis Xavier College and Lyndhurst Secondary College have taken part in this year's project, that aims to educate and inform of the rising physical, mental and environmental safety impacts that vaping is having in the community, especially amongst young people.
Phase one of the Safer Cities Project saw Council in partnership with Vic Police, VicHealth and Quit VIC, deliver a school Symposium in July. Funded through VicHealth, the event included a series of information sessions and presentations. This was followed by a competition where students were invited to create an educational video to help inform their peers on the topic of vaping.
A judging panel consisting of members from Council, VicHealth and Vic Police, determined the award-winning videos based on their creativity and informative content:
- 'The Vapourisers' from St Francis Xavier College were awarded third place.
- 'Get Puffed' from Fountain Gate Secondary College were awarded second place.
- 'Just Breathe Air' (J.B.A) from Lyndhurst Secondary College were awarded first place.
Lyndhurst Secondary College students, Michelle Prak, Olivia Argaet, Janelle Bias and Cindy Phao created 'Just Breathe Air' in the hopes that their piece will positively impact this serious issue for young people. "We were happy to get involved in community action for this cause," said Michelle.
Commenting on the creative aspects of developing the project, Olivia said she "looked forward to putting the video together as a team". Similarly, Janelle said "she hopes to be able to challenge herself through her participation in new skills such as public speaking", a comment echoed by Cindy who said she "enjoyed the creative process and learning about project management."
"This initiative is all about engaging Casey's young people to get involved and become the voice of change on various safety issues," said the City of Casey Chair of Administrators Noelene Duff.
"It is so important that our youth have an active voice and role in sharing the real dangers of this growing issue in our country."
Phase two of the project is currently underway with the winning students working alongside Council, sector professionals and Monash Health to determine the best methods of sharing their key messages around the harms of vaping, the potential addiction caused by vaping and where to get help with quitting.
"Through the City of Casey's Innovation Fund, we are proud to support this student led project with a $25,000 grant to activate their winning ideas. We thoroughly look forward to seeing the creative pieces that come out of next year's project," Ms Duff added.
The project is set to conclude mid 2024 with the group looking at developing an informative video resource for distribution online, in schools and the community.
Photo caption: [L-R] Lyndhurst Secondary College students Cindy Phao, Janelle Bias, Olivia Argaet and Michelle Prak.
