TATU, Teens Against Tobacco Use, paid a visit to Weatherly Elementary to tell the fifth-grade class about the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

Eight Weatherly high school students, Lynea Reines, Nalani Lowman, Morgan Gower, Christina Caradvella, Paul Eckert, Michael Kennelly, Louis Mastroddi and Evan Kunkle spoke to the children Wednesday afternoon about the physical toll and expense of cigarettes.“We are bringing awareness to the young ones. We are trying to get them early,” Gower said. “We just want to prepare them for all the peer pressure that is coming over the next few years.”All TATU members participates in after-school sports. They told kids smoking would severely limit their ability to play to their best ability.“I want nice skin and not premature wrinkles,” Reines said.“I want to live a long and happy life. If I smoked, I run the chance of dying early,” Gower said.“Nicotine is what gets people addicted,” Mastroddi told the class when the team discussed e-cigarettes. He warned them even though the electronic version may taste like candy, it is just as bad as the old-fashioned paper and filter combination.“Even chewing tobacco is bad,” he said. “Could you imagine living life without the bottom of your jaw?” he asked. The answer was a resounding no.The group, under the advisement of Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol facilitator Jacqui Verhuz, brought a jar full of tar, a giant cigarette, a set of yellowed, decaying “Mr. Gross Mouth” teeth, a chart of chemicals found in cigarettes, one healthy and one damaged pig lung to give the kids a realistic look at the dangers of smoke on the body. Gower inflated the lungs with a foot pump to an echoing “Ew, gross” from the class.“Pig lungs are the closest-looking to a human’s,” Verhuz said. “It’s supposed to simulate a one-pack-a-day for 20 years smoker,” she said.After the presentation, Weatherly Elementary School nurse Rebekah McFadden reiterated the important message. “Smoking is very expensive, it makes you sick,” she said. “If someone offers you a cigarette, remember today’s presentation.”The members of TATU were hand-picked as freshmen by the senior club members.Verhuz worked with the now-junior high students to train them to bring the anti-smoking message to the school. The current team will choose eight freshmen to carry on with the presentation.