Maundy

Hello. My name is Maundy, and I am a 10th Grade student in Massachusetts. I’m here to talk about how school policies don’t help students who are vaping to cope with life. This is my experience with schools and vaping.

I walked to the bathroom and there was this girl and the alarm went off. It was the vaping alarm. The staff came in and asked if anyone was vaping. But the girl had already left, and I almost got in trouble.

I felt scared. I didn’t think it was the fire alarm, but I didn’t know what the sound was. I felt scared of it. The staff just walked in and said, “The vaping alarm went off. Do you know who vaped?”

I said, “It wasn’t me; I know that.” My parents were going through my mind. I didn’t want to get in trouble right then. I don’t think they would have been happy with me vaping.

After we spoke, she just stopped the alarm from going off. I don’t think she even tried to search for the student who vaped.

The alarms in the bathroom are not stopping students from vaping. It just tells teacher and staff that someone is vaping in the bathroom. It’s just a noise. You’re not going to get in trouble. If there are multiple people in the bathroom and only one person vapes, you’re not going to know which person was vaping.

Now that I’m thinking about it, it’s really sad. The school is not trying to do anything to stop students from vaping. They closed the gym bathroom, because someone was vaping. The medical bathroom is also closed. That’s not going to do anything. They’re just telling the students to hold their pee.

Don’t go yelling at the student or rush to tell their parents. Try to sit down and talk with them. Ask what’s going on in their life if they want to share it. Try to figure out why the reasons they started vaping and if they can help them stop vaping.

I think there should be more counselors. Freshmen year there’s 400 of us and only one counselor. Only one counselor is hearing 400 different problems, and I don’t think only one counselor is able to help 400 students. More counselors would be helpful to the kids, because the counselor would be able to give their attention to fewer students. We need schools to listen to students more and not ignore their ideas.

Hopefully it doesn’t only help with stopping vaping but helps with students’ mental health and their academic improvement and probably their personal life, too. If the student is struggling in a class, it is probably because they’re having a tough time in their personal life or struggling with the subject. We need staff to sit down and ask what’s going on in their life. If they’re having trouble in a certain topic the staff might be able to help them.

They could also collaborate with other organizations to explain why vaping is bad and help kids understand the dangers of vaping. It might not end all vaping, but it will end some of the problem. One is better than nothing.

Thank you for your time. Please consider supporting and funding Safe and Supportive Schools.