Oklahoma schools observe Kick Butts Day

Still, she said, she has seen firsthand some of the negative effects attributed to smoking.

“Tobacco-free is a passion of mine because I have family members who have smoked and been affected by it,” Bruce said. “Just being in a house that smells like smoke and having that uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe in healthy air is bad enough.”

Bruce, a junior public relations and advertising major at Oklahoma State University and a marketing employee at the university's Seretean Wellness Center, got to share the tobacco-free message Wednesday during National Kick Butts Day.

The OSU event was one of several on school campuses throughout the state in which students and health advocates called on elected officials to support measures to reduce tobacco use and on tobacco companies to stop marketing to young people.

To spread the message on the Stillwater campus, organizers gave hand sanitizing wipes and OSU coffee mugs to passing students. They also passed out information on the dangers of tobacco use, Bruce said.