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HJH Vape Prevention Program

Posted Date: 09/30/26 (09:08 AM)
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You and Me Together Vape Free

Prevention Program

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

In an effort to increase prevention efforts around substance use, specifically vaping, students in grades 7, 8, and 9 will be receiving a research-based youth e-cigarette prevention program called You and Me Together Vape Free at school. This program is designed to help your child make healthy choices and avoid risky behaviors when it comes to e-cigarettes. Please read the following to learn more about the You and Me Together Vape Free program. Additionally, if you do not wish your child to participate in these lessons (5 lessons total) you will find information about opting your child out at the end of this message.

As you probably know, e-cigarette use (also known as vaping) among students has reached epidemic proportions. Students are using e-cigarettes with nicotine, cannabis, and other products.
 

Next week, October 7th, 2026...

Next week October 7th, 2026, students will begin learning about e-cigarettes through Stanford’s “You and Me Together Vape Free.”

This new curriculum, You and Me, Together Vape-Free curriculum, is part of the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, a theory-based and evidence-informed curriculum created by the Stanford Reach Lab as well as by youth, educators, and scientists across the U.S.

The goals of this curriculum are for adolescents to:
  • Increase their knowledge about e-cigarettes and the harms they can cause.
  • Gain awareness of strategies manufacturers and sellers of e-cigarettes employ to increase use among adolescents, such as deceptive and creative marketing strategies.
  • Gain skills to refuse experimentation and use of e-cigarettes.
  • Ultimately, to reduce and prevent e-cigarette use of any type, including nicotine, cannabis/THC, and/or non-nicotine products. The You and Me, Together Vape-Free curriculum includes 5 lessons, each providing activities, online quiz games, and worksheets in addition to presentations, resources, and other materials aimed at addressing key factors associated with youth e-cigarette use, including changing adolescents’ attitudes towards and misperceptions about e-cigarettes; increasing their refusal skills to pulls of flavors, marketing, and social media; reducing stress and depression which have been linked to e-cigarette initiation and use; improving coping; and decreasing intentions and actual use of all e-cigarette products.

More About the Program

This program is an age-appropriate prevention and awareness curriculum that is aimed at: validating a teen’s choice not to use, investigating the reasons teens may be curious about using, and motivating teens who are already experimenting to reduce, pause, and/or quit their usage as a step towards living vape-free.

Murray City School District is committed to providing the most effective approaches to preventing the use of both nicotine and cannabis e-cigarettes in our schools and communities. We know that prevention of drug use is most effective when it is a partnership between the community, the home, and the school.

Research consistently shows that teens who learn about the risks of drugs at home, from parents or caregivers, are less likely to use substances than teens who report learning nothing about the risks at home. However, getting the message across is not easy. Thus, this newly redeveloped curriculum also offers discussion guides that can be shared between the student and a trusted adult. These essential conversations are geared towards opening up lines of communication, not finding right or wrong answers. Parents are encouraged to talk less and listen more.

To learn more about You and Me Together Vape Free you can access at the Parent Corner here: https://med.stanford.edu/halpern-felsher-reach-lab/parent-corner.html

Materials: If you would like to review any of the You and Me Together Vape Free content at any time, please contact Sierra Marsh at smarsh@murrayschools.org or your school’s School Social Worker and Vaping Prevention Lead, Alexa Cascio at acascio@murrayschools.org 
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Presentation Schedule

Lessons will be taught 5 times throughout the school year during advisory. Hillcrest Jr High will be setting their own schedule. You may contact your School Social Worker to join the lessons with your child. Please contact MCSD Prevention Coordinator Sierra Marsh if you have any questions about the program. 

Lessons will be taught 5 times throughout the school year during advisory. Hillcrest Jr High will be setting their own schedule. You may contact your School Social Worker to join the lessons with your child. 
 Please contact MCSD Prevention Coordinator Sierra Marsh if you have any questions about the program. 

If you wish to OPT YOUR STUDENT OUT of this program, please message RoChelle McGowan in ParentSquare or send an email to rmcgowan@murrayschools.org. (If you want your student to participate, no need to contact us.) 

Thank you!