The counselors have been holding conferences in the theater about juuling and vaping to every grade in high school during X-Block for the past few weeks.

Juuling and vaping has become a huge issue in the past few years. It has become very accessible, and young people can get one extremely easy. Every independent grade has had a conference with the counselors about how juuling and vaping affects the body, and thus far, it has not been very successful.

“There are always different types of reactions towards what’s being said. Between not caring, learning and people that know it all. However not many people changed their opinion towards the topic and will probably continue the habit,” Ana Garcia, High School Counselor, said.

Despite not taking the conferences seriously, those students who really paid attention learned some very interesting facts.

“At one point, the counselors told us that the new generation of juuls and vapes contain a lot of chemicals that increase the risk of getting cancer,” Tomas Jaramillo, 10th Grade Student, said.

The High School leadership and counseling team are always coming up with new topics to talk to students and parents. Since September they started to plan a conference about the newest health issue in the school, juuling and vaping.

“The team has been planning the conferences since September. We discuss everything with parents first, and then give the conference to students. Therefore, parents are always up to date with what their kids are learning and we as a team can have an idea on what information will the students receive well,” Garcia said.

The vaping and juuling issue has been going on for quite a while. Many cases have come to the office about students juuling in bathrooms, brakes and even in class. And even though the principals and counselors became concerned, this was not the reason why they wanted to give the conferences.

“There were many cases that came from the office, however, this was not what inspired us to give the conferences. We just wanted to touch the topic since it’s a very big issue in the school, Medellin and even worldwide. We also wanted to give students a new perspective with some scientific facts, and the invitation to the knowledge of the topic so they can make the right decision,” Garcia said.