PASS-MU Activities

Feb. 13, 2008 PASS-MU students held the third annual KISS Me campaign at the University of Missouri campus. This year's theme was "KISS Me, Just for the Health of It." The event expanded into a free student wellness fair, focused on providing students with personalized health information such as lung capacity, aerobic ability, and bone density tests, brief eye exams, and sun damage assessments. Participating organizations included Columbia Allergy and Asthma, The Mason Eye Institute, The Dermatology Department of the MU Health System, Wilson's Total Fitness, The Starting Block, and others. Over 1,000 students attended and many signed pledges to further smoke-free living and environments. Seventy-three percent of them supported a smoke-free campus. Click here to see related materials.

Dec. 4, 2007 PASS-MU students had an information table at the Safe Holiday Break Resource Fair on the MU campus. They handed out information on tobacco cessation and the dangers of secondhand smoke and collected over 200 names of MU students to be included in a thank you letter to the City Council for passing the smoking ordinance.

Oct. 23 & 29, 2007 PASS-MU participated in the Walk to Wellness Health Fair for MU-Columbia employees at Reynolds Alumni Center. Students helped at the various health booths, which offered free health screenings for blood pressure, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and skin cancer. Employees had the opportunity to enroll in tobacco cessation programs, stress reduction workshops, weight management classes and low-cost exercise programs.

Oct. 20, 2007 PASS-MU, SAFE, and CASE participated in the MU-Columbia homecoming parade. They were wearing "We love smoke-free Columbia" T-shirts and walking with a 7-foot helium balloon with the slogan "I love smoke-free communities." They also passed out Gatorade to the crowd. "It was great to see so much support along the parade route," said Dean Andersen, CASE project coordinator. "This was a great opportunity to do community education."

Oct. 5, 2007 PASS-MU students volunteered at the Wellness Resource Center's 12-Hour Alcohol Responsibility Walk. Students helped in many areas including working booths, serving food and supporting the walk staff. The walk took place between 12 p.m. and 12 a.m. at Stankowski Field.

Oct. 2, 2007 PASS-MU helped run an MU Student Wellness Advocates (MUSWA) table at the Alcohol Responsibility Month Resource fair with the ADAPT/PAWS peers. The resource fair had a record 800+ participants! The MUSWA table had resources for wellness issues and applications to become a peer in the Wellness Resource Center.

Sept. 8, 2007 PASS-MU hosted a state-wide training day for the student groups at the other Missouri campuses. The training included information on tobacco control history, program planning, community and campus advocacy, and allowed the campuses to share their plans and goals for the upcoming academic year.

Aug. 25, 2007 PASS-MU students assisted the American Heart Association with the Columbia Heart Walk. Students volunteered by setting up and tearing down, working an advocacy booth, and assisting participants as needed. This was one of the most successful Heart Walks held in Columbia.

June 7, 2007 PASS-MU President Traci Harr and fellow member Mike Puricelli presented PASS's recommendations for a campus smoking policy to the staff of the MU Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs. The presentation was well received and included suggestions such as eliminating language that allows smoking indoors on campus, and allocating specific smoking areas outdoors while removing secondhand smoke from outdoor common areas.

May-July, 2007 PASS-MU supported the Wellness Resource Center by assisting with the Summer Welcome Resource fair. They had the opportunity to speak with incoming students and their parents about the center's mission and joining PASS or other peer education groups on campus.

May-July, 2007 PASS-MU member Mike Puricelli was among the seven actors selected from six campus peer education groups to perform in Wellness Skits, a part of the Summer Welcome program at MU. The skits were presented to incoming students and covered alcohol responsibility, secondhand smoke and smoking cessation, sexual health, academic responsibility and other topics. The audience had a chance to ask questions of the actors after the performances.

April 27, 2007 PASS-MU participated in Gambling Day on the MU campus. Students disseminated information about the dangers of cigar smoking and tobacco use in casinos.

April 25, 2007 PASS-MU students participated in Natural High Day on the MU campus. The event introduced students to various information and giveaways about healthy ways to combat stress, rather than the unhealthy alternatives of alcohol, drugs or gambling. Students had a chance to relax by playing with puppies and getting shoulder massages. PASS was there to counter the popular belief that cigarettes relieve stress and provide information about the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke.

April 21, 2007 PASS-MU students played a central role in the organization of the Ninth Annual Chad Eatherly Memorial 5K Fun Run in Columbia. Chad Eatherly was a peer educator from the Wellness Resource Center who died of unknown causes. The event raised scholarship funds for peer educators from the center.

April 16, 2007 PASS-MU President Traci Harr and fellow member Mike Puricelli presented PASS's recommendations for a campus smoking policy to MU Vice- Chancellor's Smoking Policy Taskforce. They covered research on secondhand smoke on college campuses, smoking policies at comparable universities, and student support for decreasing secondhand smoke on the MU campus. PASS's suggestions included eliminating language that allows smoking indoors, allocating specific smoking areas outdoors, and removing secondhand smoke from outdoor common areas.

April 14, 2007 PASS-MU students partnered with the MU Pre-Medical Society to participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Columbia to raise funds for cancer research. Their team contributed by collecting donations and selling barbequed hamburgers and bratwursts that raised nearly $1,000. The entire Relay for Life event raised over $100,000.

Feb. 14-13, 2007 PASS-MU conducted their second annual KISS (Keep It Smoke-free Sweetheart) Me campaign, which centers around Valentine's Day. For two weeks leading up to the event, they ran ads in the MU student newspaper and sent out e-mails to the entire campus letting students know what they were up to. They also had sandwich boards set up in Brady Commons (the building with the bookstore, food court, and student activities offices). The day before the event, they sent out a news release to the local television stations, which resulted in coverage by KOMU. PASS students chose the theme "We're Bringing Sexy Back" for this year, which listed the top 5 reasons non-smokers are sexy. PASS gave away 600 T-shirts over the two days and "squishy lips" - stress balls in the shape of lips. They also gave away a sticker promoting the free nicotine replacement therapy at the Student Health Center and information about PASS, joining the organization, and smoking cessation services. In order to receive a T-shirt, MU students had to answer a question about a campus tobacco fact. PASS students received very positive feedback from the students receiving T-shirts. For more information, click here.