Woodville High School would like to acknowledge John Katavatis and Nigel Gramp for their leadership of the vaping committee. The principal Anna Mirasgentis met with all the students, John and Nigel yesterday and was highly impressed with their resilience, self-reflection and growth. It was powerful to hear their personal stories of struggle, how they have changed their perspective on life and their reflections on how the school has given them an opportunity to have a voice, feel valued and the agency to lead change.
It was incredible to hear their commitment to supporting other students to navigate all the different temptations that are presented to them. Each student comes to school with their own challenges and as such building relationships, not being judged and having a sense of belonging to a community is pivotal in supporting students to make informed decisions in relation to their health and wellbeing. To hear students articulate these words was inspirational.
Woodville High School students were part of the Cancer Council SA Vaping Forum and brainstormed ways forward to support young people’s awareness, addiction and prevention of vaping. Our committee of students, Chloe Martin, Paige Richardson, Rowan Rogers, Anita Pezer, Sinead Wunderer and Ahmad Khatib that attended and listened to speakers from different health and research fields, as well as the Minister of Education and Minister of Health.
The committee has brainstormed ideas to support our community in educating them on the health risks of vaping. They have developed a PowerPoint and will create a video that will be shared with staff, parents and the students in each House Group.
