EVERETT – Holding a hard, flattened, decayed human lung in his hands, fifth-grader Connor Skibeness was quickly convinced that smoking wouldn’t be in his future.
“It makes me really not want to do it,” the 11-year-old Penny Creek Elementary School student said. “Because I don’t want my lungs to look like that.”
The demonstration was part of the school’s Science Day, which had kindergartners playing with bugs, second-graders making paper and fourth-graders learning about salmon, among numerous other things.
The aim of the event was to mix fun with learning about science and asking questions.
For Connor, the flattened lung was part of a lesson in life. He also picked up a brain just for kicks.
“It was like an apple, but really squishy,” he said. “And you could feel all the lines.”
Kathy Ketchum, a registered nurse at Providence Everett Medical Center, hosted the segment on behalf of the nonprofit group Choice and Consequences.
The group makes regular appearances at schools to discourage children from smoking and using drugs and alcohol, and to encourage healthy eating habits.
The scientific part came when Ketchum showed examples of healthy organs compared with unhealthy ones, and the kids got to touch them for themselves.
The results of smoking “looked really nasty inside,” said Stephanie Dick, 11. “I didn’t think it looked that gross.”
In addition to cigarettes, Ketchum tried to debunk myths about cigars and chewing tobacco, saying they have their share of cancer-causing agents and other dangers. Cigar smoking, for example, can cause mouth and throat cancers even though less smoke is inhaled.
Jolie Choquetta, 11, was taking that message home to her dad. “I’m going to tell him it’s not safe to do it,” she said of smoking cigars.
The hands-on portion was the most important, Ketchum said.
“When I was growing up, I was a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ girl,” she said. “We have to reach them with what they see. If they can see it up close and personal, it helps them to remember it a little better.”
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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