SWAT Sisters
Passing the extinguisher

By Stephanie Reck, editor

Alexander, a 2002 graduate of Pedro Menendez High School, and Bancks, a senior at St. Joseph’s Academy, both in St. Augustine, got involved with Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) because of family members who used tobacco. Alexander has been the chairman of the St. Johns County SWAT organization for the past year, as well as the state vice-chair for education and training. She’ll be succeeded this year by Bancks as the county chair, who also is chair of St. Joseph's SWAT organization, a group Alexander founded at St. Joseph's before transferring to Pedro Menendez.

“The reason I got started in SWAT was because of my grandfather,” Alexander says. “He passed away from a tobacco-related disease. A lot of people would say that he lost his fight with tobacco because he smoked for many decades and finally quit but the damage was done. I say he’s just given the battle to me to fight.” Alexander credits SWAT with giving her more than just a way to remember a dear relative. “This is my life’s mission, not only to fight tobacco, but to make sure that teens know that advocacy can change their lives.”

Alexander has been involved since 1998, so by the time she took on the job of being St. Johns County SWAT chair, she knew what needed to be  accomplished. Since SWAT's mission is to inform students about the dangers of tobacco use and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS, or "second-hand" smoke), she created the “Tobacco 101 and Surviving ETS” program with Anna Galas, the state education and training contract manager. The program is used by counties across the state to educate SWAT members, especially when dealing with state legislators. “We created the Tobacco 101 presentation to get every SWAT member on the same page,” she says. “When I go to talk to my state legislator, I can use the same facts and figures as the chairman from down in Dade County, and we hit them with the same information in a uniform manner.”

Alexander's uniform manner and well-organized style are strengths that Bancks plans to continue as she enters the county chair this fall. “I want to be sure that Tobacco 101 is kept current and available in all counties,” Bancks says.

Bancks came to be a SWAT member for a reason similar to Alexander’s. “Both of my parents have always been cigarette smokers, and I’ve always hated it, so when I found SWAT, I knew it was a way to keep other people from starting," she says. And Bancks’ story has turned out to have a happier ending. “My father has cut down and my mother has actually quit,” she says. “I’m really happy about it—when we go out to a restaurant, we can sit in the non-smoking section.”

Part of Alexander's duties have consisted of speaking to children about the dangers of second-hand smoke. “I went back to my old elementary school and read to a kindergarten class,” Alexander says. “I read Get Rid of That Smoke, which was interesting since there were a good number of those children in there who have to deal with second-hand smoke."

Many of the programs that Alexander has helped create Bancks plans to expand and improve on. “SWAT is kind of famous for its dances,” Bancks says. “Everyone wants to come out and have a good time, but I don’t want people to forget it’s anti-tobacco related. I want to get a stronger message across.”

The programs in the county have included everything from the Reindeer Run- a fundraiser done with the Ancient City Road Runners- to a skim-board competition, to establishing a strong presence at the annual cancer-awareness event, Relay for Life. Because of this variety, Bancks stresses that she wants all students to feel like there’s a niche available for them in the St. Johns County SWAT organization. “Some people get involved for the fun activities, but most people join because they want to do something, and they can go to conferences and learn, they can get petitions signed, and of course, they can have fun, too.” Bancks hasn’t been afraid to do the hard work herself. “For the ballot initiative to get tobacco-free workplaces, I went out and got as many petitions signed as I could and got all my teachers at school to sign,” Bancks says. “We even did a day at the St. Augustine Bridge of Lions, holding up anti-tobacco signs to raise awareness.”

Not many high school seniors speak with authority about a budget of $39 million dollars (recently cut by $10 million) or about how to get grassroots local support for a state ballot initiative or ideas for a statewide ad campaign (the "Truth" ad campaign was created by SWAT), but these women are working for a larger cause that carries larger potential rewards and casualties than what  average high school students choose to care about. “I want to be a leader, and SWAT has given me capabilities to be a great one,” Alexander says. “Otherwise, at this stage, I don’t know that I would have this kind of direction.” Alexander, who hopes to run for governor one day, says being involved in SWAT helps students create long-term goals and shapes them into life-long leaders.

"Kassie has held almost every position in our organization, taken advantage of every training, volunteered at and chaired most of our anti-tobacco events, and become an articulate spokesperson for our efforts," says Nancy Birchall, the St. Johns County SWAT coordinator. "What I admire about Kassie is that she never quit, and she let herself develop and grow."

In organizing her final St. Johns County SWAT Leadership Conference, Alexander said she gave the assembled group of 6^th  through 12^th  graders a statistic she hoped would spur them to action, and it’s a set of numbers she says she'll carry with her in her head to Florida State University this fall. “On September 11, we had terrorists take thousands of lives. Tobacco takes the same number of lives every two days—9/11, 9/13, 9/15, 9/17—and so on," she says. "Let’s wage war on tobacco. That’s what I plan to lead with—the facts and the information we need to fight it and fight it hard."

Copyright © 2006 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved