Drug Seminar Emphasizes Vaping Dangers

For educational purposes, professional drug expert Efrain Martinez came to The Columbus School on the 27th of March, 2019; in order to teach students about synthetic drug use.

Some Juniors and Seniors were pulled out of class, so they could listen to the conference TCS directives had planned with this surprise speaker. The ones that attended got warned and informed about the repercussions this substances have on the human body. Furthermore, questions and concerns of the student community were answered.

“He feels there is a huge impact of nicotine in the society of school, specially Juuls or E-cigarettes. He even said that based on the questions he asked, there are a lot of students who are already addicted to nicotine,” Andres Rendon TCS High School counselor, said.

Many students were able to freely express themselves and share personal experiences with Martinez because they were among their close peers and most of them had gone through similar situations, this way they felt supported.

“I felt quite comfortable, sometimes I didn’t because it’s strange talking to someone who isn’t your age about drugs. But in general I did because I was with my mates,”  Luciano Fernandez 11th grader at TCS, said.

Martinez, made a connexion to the audience, keeping it extremely professional, which gave him the trustworthiness necessary to manage a big group of teenagers. This opportunity provided a space where students learned and solved doubts about this controversial topic.

“I immediately sensed a sense of credibility in him because you could see he knew the topic, he had experience and didn’t ask us about drug problems, he actually already know about them,” Fernandez, said.

According to some of the students that attended the conference, not only did they notice how Martinez was definitely a well known and acknowledged expert, but also most of them were able to take a lot away from this experience.

“I learned a lot about drugs, details we did not know and people don’t talk about…I thought having this talk so personal made a connection with my life,” Federico Jaramillo 11th grader at TCS, said.

Based on the previous informative talk, interviewed students were left wanting more. There are many other current issues that weren’t discussed.

“I would definitely like another talk with Efrein specially to talk about more deep and personal problems,” Fernandez, said.