Operation Clean Up
No butts about it, Operation Clean Up was a smashing success today at Oklahoma State University.
OSU kicked off its first day as a tobacco-free campus by asking students and employees to pick up cigarette butts littering the Stillwater campus.
Here are the results:
– Approximately 26,667 cigarette butts were collected in one hour (10 pounds)
– This number translates to 293,337 minutes of life lost on campus due to premature death caused by tobacco use (as per British Medical Journal – one cigarette reduces life by 11 minutes – http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/320/7226/53 )
– The “value” of the cigarettes $5,586.74 (average in Oklahoma is $4.19 per pack)
– Time spent smoking this number of cigarettes (assumes 7 minute average) = 186,669 minutes or 3111 hours
– The New York Times reports for each pack of cigarettes smoked, it costs the nation more than $7 in medical care and lost productivity. Based on this average, the number of butts collected today cost the nation $9331 in healthcare and lost productivity.
– Approximately 25 volunteers from across campus participated in the event.
Readers, make sure you check out our new blog by several OSUers trying to quit smoking. http://blog.newsok.com/quitting
Susan Simpson
Sleepy Drivers
Yawn …. I’m having trouble staying awake long enough to write this post.
Not really, I’m just trying to set a tone here.
A new study by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies says that too many college students are driving sleepy. Some admitted to falling asleep at the wheel or causing an accident.
Drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. So here are some tips to avoid it:
* Get enough sleep. This seems obvious but when you are pulling an all-night cram session or out late with your friends, you might not consider the risks.
* Take breaks while driving.
* Consume caffeine.
* Do not drink alcohol.
I’ll admit to DWS (driving while sleepy) when I was in college, and even sometimes now. Luckily, I usually have noisy kids in the car to keep me alert, or I blast some rocking 80s music. But luckily, my nights of cramming for tests and all-hours partying are over.
Thank goodness.
Susan Simpson
Which way is best to slim down, shape up?
Gov. Brad Henry recently signed a bill raising the amount of physical education required for schoolchildren.
Students in California are facing a different approach under a law that went into effect this year: the amount of P.E. students must take depends on how fit they are.
In California, high school freshmen who fail more than one of six fitness tests must repeat P.E. classes until they can muscle through the assessment. The results don’t impact their graduation.
There is a notable difference between the state actions — Oklahoma’s applies to elementary and middle schools; California’s to high schools.
But both states’ approaches could be applied to any grade level, so which do you think will turn out to be more effective in helping kids slim down and shape up?
Share your thoughts on the education blog at http://blog.newsok.com/educationstation.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Fragrance-free schools?
A Minnesota lawmaker wants to give the ax to Axe, one of an array of fragrances students put on before or at school.
Some students and school nurses say the fragrances aggravate asthma and cause headaches.
High school student Mikolai Altenberg told the Associated Press he gets headaches from the fragrances, which permeate the air.
“Mostly it’s just guys who just think that putting Axe all over them is a substitute for showering,” Altenberg said.
Minnesota Democrat Karen Clark’s bill would establish a campaign in Minneapolis and possibly other districts to make students and parents more aware of possible fragrance issues. She originally proposed banning fragrances in the capital city’s school district.
Do you think schools should be fragrance-free? Share your thoughts with me and with other readers on the Education Station blog at NewsOK.com.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
Can’t get into nursing school?
Each year hundreds of qualified students who want to become nurses are turned away from nursing schools in Oklahoma.
Why? Because there aren’t enough nursing faculty to teach all the would-be nurses, who are of critical need in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and schools.
Why aren’t there enough faculty? Because faculty pay is generally less than that in clinical settings, there’s little incentive for working nurses to gain additional degrees in order to teach.
Have you applied to nursing school and been turned away? How has that changed your career goals? Did you re-apply and get in another year or program?
I want to know how the faculty shortage has impacted you. E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
(Back)packing heat
Should college students be allowed to carry guns on campus? And would that make them any safer?
It’s a debate that renews after each senseless shooting on a college campus, the most recent being the tragedy at Northern Illinois University in which five students and the gunman died.
Utah is the only state that allows persons with concealed gun permits to pack heat on campus. But several other states have passed or are considering legislation to allow it.
Oklahoma bans weapons on public campuses, and I haven’t heard any talk from administrators about changing that. But what do students, faculty and campus police think about changing the law? It will be hot topic if shootings ever occur on a campus here.
Let’s hope that day never comes.
E-mail me your comments at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Does campus safety mean end of privacy?
College students, what price would you pay for safety, or at least the feeling of security?
Would you pay an extra $10 a class? Would you be willing to open your student files to faculty and administrators?
As a parent of one-day college students, I say yes! I’ll pay my share to hire a battalion of mental health workers, install high-tech warning systems, and erect barbed wire around the dormitories if need be. My kids files will be spotless anyway, full of honor roll listings and volunteer accolades.
Right. If the world was perfect, then we wouldn’t have these worries.
A group of college presidents is recommending $16 million in security upgrades to state campuses. They fear both a Virginia Tech-style tragedy and the more regular kind of violence (suicides, assault) that can be fueled by mental illness or substance abuse.
One recommendation is to form crisis committees on each campus that would look into reports of troubled students, with some access to student and medical records. That has some questioning rights to privacy.
What do you think? What sacrifices would you make to create safer campuses?
E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com or call me at 475-3930.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Fit by Ferret?
When I think about fit, trim and positively svelte creatures, I don’t imagine a ferret.
I do imagine this weasel-like animal when contemplating Joe Pesci or ambulance-chasing lawyers. (Not sure why the former, maybe because he often plays furtive characters.)
Well Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has made the ferret a poster child for making us a healthier city. In a news conference this week at the zoo, he said city residents are like the elephants he posed near, and not the fuzzy, playful furball ferret held by a zoo employee.
I’m not sure what animal would be inspirational to the fat masses of Oklahoma City, but it’s probably not a ferret. Imagine the motivational slogans “One more mile … You can do it … Be a ferret!”
How about a gazelle? Or the diversity-friendly zebra? Or even an elephant for goodness sake.
Is an elephant really fat? Or just really big? Someone with an elephant’s bone structure will never fit into ferrets clothing.
And elephants are herbivores. They eat grasses and fruits. While ferrets are meat-eaters and will munch mice, prairie dogs and even roadkill.
What animal do you think best represents a fit, healthy Oklahoma? E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
From the “duh” files
This just in — Highly-educated University of Texas at Austin researchers have discovered that “College Students Drink More on Game Days!”
Their study found that students drank more on football game days than on Halloween or New Year’s Eve, other holidays with a reputation for inebriation.
Male students drank more for all games. Female students tended to chug-a-lug most during away games.
Said one study author: “Most events associated with heavy drinking occur only one a year, such as Spring Break, or once in a lifetime, such as a 21st birthday, but the weekly football schedule presents students with more regular opportunities to drink.”
The study is published in November’s issue of Addictive Behaviors.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
Taking the lead on lead
I spent my morning amid swing sets and monkey bars.
An anonymous caller said he suspected playground equipment at an elementary school was coated in lead-based paint, so I bought a do-it-yourself test kit from Home Depot to find out if that was true.
I tested two different pieces of playground equipment at that school, Buchanan Elementary at NW 18 and Utah in Oklahoma City, with LeadCheck.
Per the instructions, I shook the cigarette-shaped swab and then crushed the two small glass vials inside to release the chemicals that detect lead. I squeezed out some of the freshly activated chemicals and rubbed the tip against the paint for 30 seconds.
If the tip turned pink or red it would indicate lead; a yellow tip would indicate none.
And in 30 seconds I had an answer: no lead.
On my way back to the office I stopped at Johnson Elementary in The Village to get in another test, and again swabbed two separate pieces of playground equipment. Both tests were negative.
Some story ideas that come into The Oklahoman don’t always pan out — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth checking out.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Writer
