Delaware Valley EXSELS Teen Leaders discuss plans with the Site
Coordinator, Adult Program Leader and School Representatives

Extension and Schools Enhancing Life Skills (EXSELS), a collaborative, school-based drug prevention project was conducted in 8 Pennsylvania middle schools. In Pike County, Delaware Valley School is participating in this three-year project.

Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the project aims to (1) enhance life skills; (2) prevent alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) abuse; and (3) identify effective strategies for accomplishing these aims in diverse community settings.

Through a collaboration with DV school, Cooperative Extension, and Penn State researchers, the Project ALERT drug prevention curriculum is offered to seventh- and eighth-grade students in two different ways: (1) by a qualified adult leader from the community; and (2) by the adult leader assisted by teen leaders from the local high school.

Last year 86 seventh-grade students at Delaware Valley received the Project ALERT curriculum (44 in the adult-led classrooms and 42 in the teen-assisted classrooms). The curriculum will be offered again in 2002 to a new group of seventh-graders and a booster curriculum is being offered to this year's eighth graders.

An extensive program evaluation is being conducted over four years of students’ participation in the project. To determine effectiveness of the Project ALERT curriculum, a variety of measures are being used including an annual student survey. The survey indicates, among other things, their current use of ATODs, beliefs about the prevalence of use among their peers, as well as their ability to resist pressures to use ATODs. Given the multi-year nature of the program and its evaluation, results at this point are limited. However, there is preliminary evidence across the 8 schools that, compared to students who did not have the curriculum, students who participated in the Project ALERT program last year tended to perceive a lower level of drug use by their peers, suggesting that they perceive using drugs as less acceptable behavior. The hope is that these perceptions will ultimately result in lower levels of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among program students. More extensive evaluation results will be available within the next two years.

The Pike County Tobacco Free Coalition was awarded a $16,000 grant for tobacco prevention activities for the period of October 2000 - June 2001. The grant is awarded by the Pennsylvania Tobacco Prevention Network and funded by the Pennsylvania State Health Department and facilitated through the Pike County Cooperative Extension office.

Coordinated by Debra Brodhecker, the Coalition is made up of local agencies including Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pike County Drug and Alcohol Commission, The Pennsylvania State Health Department, American Cancer Society, Pike County Planning and Human Development, and Delaware Valley School District.

The Coalition sponsored training for 50 Delaware Valley High School students in the Teens against Tobacco Use (TATU) program. The students were divided into ten teams and visited 53 elementary classrooms, grade 2-5, giving presentations with a tobacco free message. The teens act as role models for the younger children to reinforce the positive aspects of being tobacco free and to help children understand that most teens do not smoke.
The Coalition also purchased signs for the Delaware Valley campus to remind students and adults that the school grounds, including athletic fields, are tobacco free areas.

Furthermore, the grant was renewed for the period of August 2001 - December 2001, in the amount of $6,000, which assisted the Coalition in continuing their work of reducing tobacco related illness and death in Pike County.
With the latest grant over 40 Delaware Valley High School students were trained in TATU and in early January students at Wallenpaupack Area High School will start TATU in their school district.
A second hand smoke workshop for daycare providers was also done and bill boards on Route 6 encourage parents and others to not smoke around children.

Over 40 Delaware Valley High School students joined TATU
(Teens Against Tobacco Use) and spent the day with Tony Delonti from the
American Lung Association learning about tobacco and its effects on the human body.