WORLAND – Worland Middle School students participated in a SmokeScream to demonstrate the ability of healthy lungs and making healthy life decisions last Wednesday.

Worland Middle School physical education and health teacher Brittany Miller stated, “There are so many things we could be teaching them that fall under health, so we’ve decided to really focus on how to make a healthy decision. So we are teaching students decision-making model to make healthy choices. We just hope before they encounter any substance, one being tobacco, that they can go through a decision-making process before they choose if they are going to do it or not do it and be able to say why. Allowing them to have that type of power over their choices is what our curriculum teaches them in sixth grade. It’s for health but I think over all awareness of the choices we make can greatly affect our health or a specific body part and if we are going to choose those choices we need to know the consequences, but if we don’t choose those choices we need to know the positive consequences too in allowing the kids to process both sides of it.”

The last time Worland Middle School students participated in the event was when the middle school was located where the Worland Community Center Complex is located and is usually held in November along with the Great American Smoke-out. The SmokeScream was added to the Great American Smoke-out many years ago to emphasize lung health and give students a fun thing to do with the smoke out, since most students don’t smoke, American Cancer Society Cheri Bundren explained. She added that the decision to do the SmokeScream in March was due to scheduling conflicts and that it is to remind students that choosing not to smoke is their choice and that they will hopefully choose healthy lungs.

Worland Middle School physical education and health teacher Cody Smith stated that the students had been testing all week, so they probably needed to scream anyway.