WOODBURY — Is it really worth it?

People never really know the risks of what can happen when they vape.

“There’s people who smoke for 60 years and never have any health problems,” says Nonnewaug principal Mykal Kuslis, “but there’s people that have vaped for six months and have died or have lost lungs or even needed lung transplants.”

Each person can have different side effects because no person is the same. 

“When I was in Bridgeport, we had a kid who had an allergic reaction to somebody else vaping, and we had to take them to the hospital,” says Kuslis. “They had a seizure. It was really bad, so you don’t really ever know how other people might react to it, so it’s always a scary thing.”

Like Kuslis, freshman Maryn Heinrich believes that vaping can be harmful for the ones doing it and the people around them. 

“I think that vaping is an irresponsible and harmful thing to you and others around you,” says freshman Maryn Heinrich, “because it can not only harm you but the others around you.”

However, that thought hasn’t stopped some students from giving into peer pressure and vaping.

“I don’t really know why I started,” says a Nonnewaug sophomore whom the Chief Advocate granted anonymity. “I just did it because all of my friends were.”

While young people feel invincible or popular when vaping, its effects can be far-reaching. 

“My dad died from smoking at 55. He never got to see his grandkids,” says Kuslis. “I just know when you’re young and you think you’re invincible and it’s like a cool thing, [but] it’s just we don’t know what these things do.” 

One thing that medical professionals know is that vaping causes long-term lung damage, similar to smoking. Vapes have many different types of harsh chemicals that have negative effects on your body.

“Vaping can cause long-term lung damage. It destroys your ability to focus and remember,” says Nonnewaug nurse Sandy Snabaitis. “There’s also particles in there that can lead to cancer. There’s tin, lead, metal. There’s nicotine, which reaches your brain in 10 seconds, and produces dopamine that makes you feel good but causes addiction.”

To help prevent this, Connecticut and eight other states have banned flavored vapes, according to YouCanQuit2, a Department of Defense educational campaign originally launched in 2007 to help service members quit tobacco.

“The logic behind these bans is that because most kids and teens prefer flavored e-cigarettes, they will not use e-cigarettes if flavored options are not available,” according to the group. “Emerging evidence suggests these bans lead to fewer young people using e-cigarettes, however, research is ongoing.”

However, that ban hasn’t gone very well in Connecticut as teenagers still find ways to secure and use flavored vapes.

“One time when I went into the bathroom, I got a really strong smell of blue raspberry and I knew it was from vaping,” says Nonnewaug freshman Catherine Viveros. 

Other students have also witnessed peers in the bathroom using the same device. 

“When I walked into the bathroom, there was a big group of people that were sharing a vape and it was really disgusting,” says Nonnewaug freshman Jillian Bushka.

To help students stop vaping and to prevent students from starting, Nonnewaug counselor Paul Laedke is becoming certified to be a tobacco treatment specialist. 

“Whenever there’s an opportunity to attain some new credential or certification or take part in some sort of new learning, I’m always excited to do it,” says Laedke. “Being a school counselor, I haven’t seen a lot of kids in that capacity where we’ve talked about it, but I think having some background in it could be helpful in the future.”

Laedke wants to help the percent of students vaping in high school and younger ages decrease.

“7.8% of high school kids are either vaping or have vaped, and roughly 60% of those have done it for more than a year,” continues Laedke. “So if you’re saying, ‘Oh well, it’s only with 7.8%, it’s not a lot,’ eight out of 100 kids is kind of a big deal.” 

A percentage that may seem small is still drastic for students still in high school. The relatively small amount of students are still intaking several chemicals that can have harmful effects.

It’s never too late for someone to stop, though. Kuslis says that while administration confiscates vapes, cartridges, and other paraphernalia discovered at school, it’s not his intention to automatically suspend students after they are caught vaping.

“Honestly, if I catch somebody and they go to vaping cessation and never vape again, I would never suspend them,” says Kuslis. “It’s really not about the suspension; it’s about getting healthy and not doing this stuff.”

Nonnewaug has partnered with Southern Connecticut State University, which provides a program to talk to the wellness classes to talk about vaping and the problems that it can cause. Nonnewaug’s bathrooms also include flyers displaying Connecticut’s free tobacco cessation resources, including the campaigns for Commit to Quit and VapeFreeCT.

Additionally, to gain more control over the situation, administration has decided to limit the amount of students able to go into the bathroom at a time.

“We have been trying to manage the number of students in a bathroom,” says Kuslis. “[We are] trying to funnel kids to certain bathrooms so now we have a little bit of control over it.”

While closing bathrooms is one way to prevent vaping, assistant principal Declan Curtin believes that there are even healthier options to help resist nicotine use. 

“It’s why I encourage everyone to get involved in sports and activities,” says Curtin, “and to have a sense of belonging to something that’s bigger than you so that you don’t revert to negative behaviors.”

Some students, especially athletes, are proving that they have the ability to quit. 

“I quit because I wanted to improve my athletic abilities,” says the anonymous Nonnewaug sophomore.  

Administrators say that all teenagers – not just athletes – need to take into account what they are putting into their bodies to stay healthy and give their best performance. 

“If you don’t know what you’re putting in your body,” says Curtin, “you shouldn’t be putting it in.”