Students discuss vaping at Teen Town Hall meeting at Sumner Academy

Students at Sumner Academy listened and asked questions during a Teen Town Hall meeting on vaping. The town hall meeting was sponsored by the University of Kansas Medical Center, KU Cancer Center, Fox 4 News and the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. (Photo by William Crum)

by William Crum

Students at Sumner Academy, 1610 N. 8th St., gathered Thursday morning to participate in a Teen Town Hall meeting on vaping.

Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the University of Kansas Cancer Center, told the students during the meeting that vaping companies target teenagers.

Dr. Jensen said vaping companies tell Congress and others that they are not marketing to teenagers. That is a flat-out lie, Dr. Jensen said.

Students asked questions during the program, and doctors provided factual information. Fox 4 news anchors moderated the program. Student vaping is a problem across the community and across the nation, according to experts.

In an interview, Sumner Academy principal Dr. Rick Malone was asked what he thinks of vaping in the schools.

“We are aware of the serious problems of vaping, especially with teenagers because of the taste,” Dr. Malone said.

He said it wasn’t like the old days, when school personnel might catch teenagers smoking in the bathroom.

“I have personally sent out letters to the parents regarding this issue,” Dr. Malone said. “We want to be aware of the problem. It is a grassroots campaign.”

The Teen Town Hall program was sponsored by the University of Kansas Medical Center, KU Cancer Center, Fox 4 news and the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. Fox 4 news, which moderated the program, showed a video of it on social media. The video can be seen at https://fox4kc.com/news/fox4-teen-vaping-town-hall-discussing-a-problem-prevalent-in-all-of-our-communities/.