Vaping/ Juuling at Loyola Academy

Emily Eshoo, Writer

Drug Week. Everyone sees the posters in the hallways with all the facts about how dangerous vaping is to teenagers. But do they really convince teens to stop vaping?

A ‘JUUL’ is version of an E- Cigarette that comes in flavors intriguing to teenagers such as mint, mango, creme brûlée, cucumber, and fruit medley. A juul is small, and is often compared to a flash drive. Juul produced battery (the stick itself) colors in red, blue, gold, and grey. I interviewed seven people from Loyola Academy to get their thoughts and opinions on vaping; Dean Desherow, Dean Culhane, Corri Braasch (School Nurse), Elizabeth Kaiser (Librarian), Jared Lombardi (Senior), and two other students who preferred to remain anonymous (Anonymous 1 & Anonymous 2).

From Your Experience at Loyola, How Has Juuling/ Vaping Affected Your Everyday Life?

Nurse Corri Braasch went in detail about how kids come in to her office with symptoms such as nausea, headache, and dizziness (which are all symptoms of vaping), and they often smell of a fruity scent. Nurse Corri wonders if these are actual sickness symptoms, or just symptoms from vaping in school. “I don’t know for sure, but I think a lot of kids are vaping in school…kids come in to the nurses office all the time with symptoms of headaches, nausea, and dizziness.”

Dean Desherow explained how he has to educate himself on vaping in order to understand the harmful effects as well as being cautious on what to look out for. “I educate myself on vaping and Juuling…to understand the harmful effects which preventing further use. It also keeps me more aware and cautious.”

“I’ve had to give a lot of Mom lectures… I try to educate them on the harmful effects of vaping,” said Dean Culhane.

It seems to be that the most important thing is to educate students about vaping, and the effects it has on our bodies. Which led me to ask…

 

What Has Loyola Done To Prevent/ Stop Vaping?

“We attempt to educate students at a younger age, starting now in freshman formation classes…every school is dealing with this issue,” said Dean Culhane. 

“Staff has gone to lectures on Juuling and Vaping and what to look for,” added Nurse Braasch. 

“We have added it to our handbook, listed under drug paraphernalia and under nicotine possession. We’ve also upped the patrol in the bathrooms,” said Dean Desherow.

“We have had several awareness meeting with the Deans on what to look for,” said librarian Ms. Kaiser. 

It seems as though Loyola has educated their staff on vaping, but do the posters in the hallway during drug week really prevent further use of vaping with students?

Do You Read The Vaping Facts In The Hallways? Are They Effective?

“No, I do not read the vaping facts in the hallways, ” said senior Jared Lombardi.

“Yes, I do read them, and they are eye opening to read, but they aren’t effective, ” said an anonymous source. 

“Yes I read them but they aren’t effective,” said a second anonymous source. 

Since people are reading these posters, but they aren’t effective, should there be another way of getting the message to the students? Perhaps, keeping the posters up longer than just a week? A mandatory class once a quarter on educating students about the harmful effects of vaping?

I took an anonymous poll including students from every grade level.

 

Have you ever Vaped/ Juuled before?

Yes: 32/52

No: 19/52

Have you ever Vaped/ Juuled in school?

Yes: 11/52

No: 41/52

With this data, the question becomes, has Loyola done enough to stop vaping?