UNMC students help fight the Tar Wars

Medical students, Jody Elson and Ben Hanzel, who coordinated the Omaha Tar Wars poster contest, stand next to the first, second and third place posters.

For the third year in a row the Nebraska Academy of Family Physicians sponsored the Omaha Tar Wars poster contest. The winner will represent the state at the national contest in July in Washington.

The winner of the Omaha Tar Wars poster contest is Enrique Chavez, from Assumption Guadalupe Elementary School. Chavez designed a poster with a Mardi Gras theme.

Tar Wars is a tobacco-free education program aimed at fourth- and fifth-grade students. The program is designed to teach kids about the short-term, image-based consequences of tobacco use, the cost associated with using tobacco products and the advertising techniques used by the tobacco industry to market their products to youth.

A follow-up poster contest is conducted at the school, state, and national level to reinforce the Tar Wars message.

The program, which is owned and operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), is implemented in classrooms across the United States and abroad by committed volunteer presenters such as health care professionals, educators and community members.

Earlier this year first- and second-year medical students from UNMC visited several Omaha-area schools and others around the state, to do Tar Wars presentations. The medical students then encourage the elementary school children to submit a poster to the local competition. The grand prize for the student who wins at the national level is a trip to Disney World.