As youth vaping continues to challenge schools across Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State University is partnering with New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) to bring evidence-based education, prevention programming, and student leadership directly into classrooms.
Led by Southern’s Tobacco Prevention Program within the College of Health and Human Services, the initiative equips educators, families, and students with the tools to better understand nicotine addiction, reduce vaping among young people, and connect those who need support with cessation resources. The effort comes in response to increasing concerns from NHPS administrators about the impact vaping is having on student health and learning.
“This year we’re really tackling it hard because the assistant superintendent has seen youth vaping increase and become a real challenge in the schools,” said Victoria Adams, tobacco program coordinator at Southern. “Students are becoming addicted to high levels of nicotine, and those withdrawals are interfering with education. Schools are looking for meaningful ways to address it.”
The challenge extends well beyond New Haven. According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, approximately 16,600 Connecticut high school students — 11.5% statewide — reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2023, making electronic vapor products the most commonly used tobacco product among the state’s youth. Nearly 70% of those students reported using their vaping devices for cannabis, underscoring the growing complexity of nicotine and substance use prevention efforts in schools.
Through funding from the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Tobacco and Health Trust Fund, Southern has spent the past decade building tobacco prevention initiatives on campus and supporting schools throughout Connecticut. The university’s tobacco-free campus policy, adopted in 2015, helped launch a broader effort that now includes prevention education, technical assistance and tobacco cessation training for colleges and K-12 schools across the state.
The partnership with NHPS builds on that foundation with a multi-layered approach. Southern faculty will provide training for school staff on restorative alternatives to suspension for students caught vaping, while Southern student educators will deliver classroom lessons using the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit and university-developed educational activities focused on nicotine addiction, quitting strategies, and harm reduction.
Peer-to-Peer Prevention
One of those student educators is Avery Katz, a health and wellness coaching major within Southern’s public health program, who will spend the academic year working with middle- and high-school students as a peer educator.
Katz first learned about the opportunity through a wellness course taught by adjunct professor Lisa Seely. Adams had been invited to speak to the class about nicotine and THC use among college students and, at the end of the presentation, shared an opportunity for Southern students to become involved in the tobacco prevention program.
Having worked with younger people for much of her life and having previously considered teaching, Katz was interested. She joined the program in 2025 and has since gained hands-on experience that has helped her consider a future in community health education.
For Katz, being relatively close in age to the students she works with is one of the strengths of the program.
“When I was in middle and high school, I thought college kids were the coolest ever,” Katz said. “I think it’s really helpful to have someone who is closer in age to the students, especially from a local college.”
Being a Southern student also allows Katz to make connections that extend beyond the tobacco prevention curriculum. She said students sometimes ask questions about college and life in general, opening opportunities to connect them with resources in New Haven and the communities where the program operates.
The experience is also giving Katz a clearer picture of where her Southern education could take her.
“It’s super beneficial, especially getting public health experience in general,” Katz said. “I’m leaning toward community health education, and this gives me the chance to actually get that experience.”
Adams sees that hands-on learning as another important outcome of the program.
“It really gives her real-life experience in the degree that she’s looking to pursue,” Adams said. “This is not only a résumé booster for her, but experience that she’s going to use after graduation.”
Support at Southern
In addition to supporting local schools, the program benefits Southern students on campus. Any Southern student seeking help to quit nicotine products can receive free nicotine replacement therapy through Health Services and connect with Adams for individualized, evidence-based cessation support.
