Northport High School 1Life students host peers for training on vape prevention

In collaboration with the Town of Huntington’s Opioid and Addiction Task Force, Northport High School 1Life students and staff welcomed students from neighboring districts for a training on vaping prevention. Peers from Elwood, South Huntington, Harborfields, Cold Spring Harbor, and Commack were present. 

Members of 1Life also serve as the Northport-East Northport Community Drug and Alcohol Task Force’s youth coalition. 

During the training, Senior Public Health Educator for the Suffolk County Department of Health Services John Martin helped students engage with each other through ice breakers and learning activities and explained how these practices could be brought to their home schools.

The event was designed to train students to become advocates within their own districts. Students learned about ways to engage their younger peers and educate them on the effects of vaping and how to lead healthy lifestyles. Northport High School 1Life students plan to take these trainings to both Northport and East Northport middle schools.

When speaking with students, Martin emphasized the impact that they can have on their younger counterparts as role models. 1Life member and junior Caitlyn Murphy emphasized the value of this work, saying,

“I think that having the opportunity to work with peers from other schools is important because it spreads the message that groups like 1Life have and it expands it to not just our town, our community and our school, but to other places too. So we always want to be spreading our message and helping others, not just those in our community.”

According to Murphy, the main message of 1Life “is that everyone has these real-life issues, whether its environmental, mental health, substance abuse – there’s something that everyone is struggling with, but we want to learn how to manage these things and spread awareness.”