Mission is adapting to a rise in vaping among middle school-aged youth.
Local school district staff created a Vaping Cessation Working Group to support youth and educate elementary-aged children about vaping’s harmful impacts.
The working group, formed in January 2024, features Mission Public School District (MPSD) staff, along with representatives from Fraser House and Fraser Health.
District Principal of Indigenous Education Vivian Searwar, who is a facilitator with the group, said it was created amid high suspension rates related to vaping. She says vapes are most often used in bathrooms and school fields, but stealthy use in classrooms is also common.
“I think that it adds another layer of complexity and challenge to what [teachers'] role is, which is of course, to educate. It adds another layer to not just the disruption of having that happen in your classroom, but also in the education aspect of the harms of vaping,” she said.
Superintendent Angus Wilson previously issued a memo to parents in 2022 outlining the vaping issues at schools.
“It’s sort of sad, because in my time as a principal, we watched cigarette smoking kind of fade away. There are still kids that smoke cigarettes but vaping has come along and filled that vacuum,” Wilson said at the time.
Middle schools are most impacted by vaping, Searwar says, although high schools and even some elementary schools have felt the effects.
According to Searwar, some students reported a fear of using the washrooms due to vaping, while others shared that their first vaping experience occurred at school.
“What we were seeing in the schools was an enormous uptick in students using vapes, in possession of vapes, selling vapes, and sharing vapes,” she said.
The Vaping Cessation Working Group took inventory on what was happening and developed programs to address it, including the Vaping Ambassador Program, I Quit 4 Me and “Shake not Vape”.
The programs aim to decrease the number of students vaping, while providing education on the harms.
The ambassador program allows students from leadership classes at Heritage Park and Hatzic middle schools – of whom some have quit vaping – to educate their younger peers at the elementary level.
I Quit 4 Me focuses on helping students actively trying to quit vaping, but some conversations extend beyond.
Meanwhile, the Shake Not Vape program at Hatzic provides the opportunity for students to make milkshakes at lunchtime instead of vaping. Searwar says 23 students showed up to the first session.
The Vaping Cessation Working Group is currently in a data-gathering stage, with another meeting coming up before the end of the school year to determine next steps.
