HAZARDOUS TO THEIR HEALTH\Former smoker warns students about dangers.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

April was 9 years old the first time she inhaled a cigarette - a habit that took her three years to finally kick.

"I decided I didn't want to die young, or have my baby all messed up when I have one," said April, now 12, who asked that her real name not be used. She decided last month to quit cold turkey, after smoking up to two packs a day.

The decision came after April watched a video in her seventh-grade class on the dangers of cigarette smoke. The man in the video was dying of lung cancer, and had only a short time to live.

"I didn't want that to happen to me," said April. "So I stopped altogether."

April was one of several former child smokers at Hillside Junior High School who told their peers about the dangers of cigarettes by participating in the school's smoke-free program Monday.

During lunchtime, nearly 300 students visited a booth set up outside the school cafeteria, where a handful of former smokers handed out pamphlets, smoke-free buttons and advice on how children can quit.

"More students need to seriously look at this stuff and understand the ramifications of smoking," said Shirley Wilcox, the school's vice principal. "If they smoked today and died tomorrow, they'd understand."

The smoke-free program - Simi Students Stamp Out Smoking (S.S. - S.O.S.) - was implemented in all four of the district's junior high schools in 1990. It is a component of the district's regular health education program, funded by the district's Drug, Alcohol, Tobacco Education (D.A.T.E.) money.

D.A.T.E. funds also help implement districtwide programs including elementary school drug education and Our Changing Family, a program for youngsters coping with divorced parents or the loss of a loved one.

Through the smoke-free program, students learn why people smoke and the problems that can arise from chewing tobacco. Students also read about experiments that show the effects of tobacco use and analyze smoking advertisements.

In conjunction with Valentine's Day, the program features "Save a Sweetheart," which involves students signing pledge cards not to start smoking.

The program works by reaching teens through the school environment outside the classroom. Teens help other teens stop smoking, using positive peer pressure to support health.

"If kids would just realize that most students don't smoke, then maybe they'll realize it's cool not to smoke, too," said Carol Burton, a school nurse in charge of the smoke-free program. "Hopefully, one day, we'll have a smoke-free generation."

The teen years are the most critical time for smoking, according to the American Heart Association. Studies show that 75 percent of adult smokers start before age 18, and 90 percent before age 21.

Peer pressure is the No. 1 reason given for starting smoking, officials said.

The vast majority of teen-agers - more than 80 percent - don't smoke. But smoking still poses a serious problem - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every day more than 3,000 American young people become smokers.

When teens start experimenting with cigarettes, many of them never dream of becoming regular smokers, officials said. Instead they just want to fit in, seem grown up, try something forbidden.

April admitted it was hard to quit at first. But she said the lifestyle change has made her a healthier, happier kid.

"You have to want to quit," she said. "I tell my friends, they can't quit until they're ready."

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Photo (1--color) Thirteen-year-old Charlene Gildehaus makes a face as she examines a replica of a smoker's lung. (2) Hillside Junior High students inspect items that show the effects of smoking on the human body during Monday's anti-smoking program. (3) Students scrutinize a model of a longtime smoker's mouth. Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News