熊猫在线视频

When biological sciences alumna Valeria Delgado Lopez first helped enact the smoke- and tobacco-free policy at UAA a decade ago, it applied only to the Anchorage campus. Since then, the policy has expanded across the entire University of 熊猫在线视频 system, a shift rooted in years of student organizing and public health advocacy. 

鈥淲e just wanted UAA to have a healthy policy,鈥� said Lopez. 鈥淲e didn't realize it was going to have so much support that it would be implemented in the other campuses. So it's been really awesome to see the UA system support healthy students, healthy policies and keep vulnerable populations protected from secondhand smoke.鈥�

The policy鈥檚 reach mirrors larger national trends 鈥� cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use have . But the landscape is also more complicated, as the rise of e-cigarettes and vaping has , creating new challenges for prevention and education. 

鈥淲hen I go out in the community, a lot of people are like, 鈥業sn鈥檛 smoking done?鈥� And as much as I would like to say no, the truth is that 熊猫在线视频 has high smoking rates compared to the rest of the nation,鈥� said Lopez. 鈥淎nd with the rise of e-cigarettes and vapes, we've seen an increase in youth using those products and not knowing what they really are. So we鈥檝e been working on getting that education out there.鈥�

Lopez now works as a health promotions manager at the American Lung Association in 熊猫在线视频, an organization that partnered with UAA during the original policy campaign and later recognized the university for its decade of clean-air leadership. Her connection to the Lung Association began when she was a student-advocate and continued after graduation in 2018, when she worked as a tobacco prevention coordinator on campus before joining the Lung Association in 2020.

At the Lung Association, Lopez manages two statewide grants through the 熊猫在线视频 Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, overseeing work in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough, and assisting with efforts throughout 熊猫在线视频. Her team focuses on education 鈥� visiting schools, partnering with community organizations and ensuring public awareness of cessation resources like the 熊猫在线视频 Quitline, which offers free medications, coaching and programs for all 熊猫在线视频ns with enhanced programs for pregnant 熊猫在线视频ns and individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges. 

Her work also includes policy support. In 2023, the Anchorage School Board passed an alternative-to-suspension program to address the more than 400 suspensions that year tied to vaping violations. Lopez assisted in the development and rollout of that policy, which allows students to receive education about nicotine addiction rather than face a 10-day suspension.

Still, requests for support in schools continue to grow. One Anchorage elementary school reported fourth and fifth graders trading puffs of e-cigarettes for chocolate milk, an example Lopez uses to show how deeply vaping has penetrated youth culture. She notes that device design plays a significant role: vapes disguised as pens, highlighters or USB drives make them easy to hide from adults. 

The shift from tobacco-derived nicotine to synthetic nicotine salts has also made the products more potent and easier to inhale, removing the harshness typically associated with cigarettes while increasing addictiveness. Combined with playful flavors like coconut, banana or 鈥渦nicorn dreamz,鈥� the products are engineered to be enticing to young users. And according to 熊猫在线视频鈥檚 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, one in four high schoolers currently uses e-cigarettes 鈥� though students often tell her the real number feels higher among their peers.

For Lopez, these developments are not surprising, as they reflect the same predatory strategies the tobacco industry has used for generations to target , , and . , for example, experience disproportionately high smoking rates due to such decades-long targeting. Lopez sees vaping鈥檚 rise as a new iteration of the same pattern 鈥� a reminder of why education and policy advocacy are essential.

鈥淪eeing how manipulative tobacco companies can be and how they have targeted vulnerable populations for so long really lit a fire in me,鈥� said Lopez. 鈥淏ut I also care about people being healthy and happy, because to me, public health means community. It means having good policies, good information and good resources.鈥�

Although Lopez had always been advocacy-minded, her public health mission didn鈥檛 begin until she arrived at UAA. Her turning point came during her freshman year, when a man smoking a cigarette outside the UAA/APU Consortium Library blew smoke directly into her younger sister鈥檚 face, triggering a severe asthma attack. That moment solidified her belief that campus needed a smoke-free policy and pushed her deeper into public health work.

She soon found a network of collaborators through the Asian Pacific Islander Community Wellness Club, where she connected with fellow student organizer and international studies alumna Yesenia Camarena, and faculty mentors, public health professor Gabe Garcia, Ph.D., and journalism and public communications professor Joy Chavez Mapaye, Ph.D. Together, they built the student-driven campaign that led to the 2014 vote and, ultimately, the 2015 policy implementation across campus and the wider UA system.

鈥淥ne of my favorite things about UAA is the supportive faculty, like Dr. Garcia and Dr. Mapaye,鈥� said Lopez. 鈥淚鈥檓 so thankful that at such a young age I found adults to look up to who care about their community and care about lifting students up. They really gave me a real-life perspective of how public health work can get done in and outside a university campus.鈥�

Today, Lopez continues to work with youth the same way her mentors worked with her 鈥� by encouraging them to lead rather than just receive information. She is developing a storytelling initiative that will elevate the voices of young people affected by nicotine addiction, cessation and peer pressure. Her goal is to empower a new generation of youth advocates who can shift culture from within, just as she helped do at UAA.

鈥淥ne of the reasons the policy initiative 10 years ago was so strong is because it really was student-led,鈥� said Lopez. 鈥淏ringing youth voices further is going to be really impactful, because youth can better relate to other people who might be going through the same struggles 鈥� if they want to quit, how did others do it?鈥�