In a statewide survey conducted last year, nearly 60 percent of teens responding said they have tried cigarettes. Now, youngsters in Clay, Oktibbeha, and Lowndes counties have an ally to help lower the number.

With a grant from the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, faculty members in Mississippi State's department of health, physical education, recreation, and sport are launching a series of awareness programs designed to steer area youth away from cigarettes.

Barry Hunt, associate professor of health education, is directing a project that invites area religious, educational, and social organizations to join the antismoking effort. In addition to schools and churches, cooperating agencies include local Boy's and Girl's clubs and Starkville's Project Brickfire.

"Using nationally tested models, we provide activities appropriate for children in grades K-3, grades 4-7 and grades 8-12," said research assistant Suleiman Alli. "We are training the students to develop skills that will let them resist peer pressure to smoke."

Hunt said the project also offers training for school and community educators in how to deliver effective anti-tobacco education programs.

Surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the project will help MSU researchers measure changing attitudes and beliefs about smoking and gauge the program's effectiveness.