Nashua High South’s SADD honors lost ‘soles’

Anybody who walked through the main hallway of Nashua High School South recently probably noticed a peculiar addition to the typical decor: a diverse collection of sneakers, boots and sandals lined up along the windowsills. On March 21, South students assembled a collection of shoes in recognition of the 17th annual Kick Butts Day, a national movement organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that takes a stand against tobacco use. In cooperation with Breathe New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Youth Network, the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) at South set up the shoes in a display to remember the youths who have died from tobacco-related disease. There were 142 pairs of shoes donated by students and faculty lined up along South’s Main Street to represent the 142 “soles” that are lost each month in New Hampshire. Some of the shoes had tags on which statistics regarding the effects of tobacco were printed. “When most people go through the halls, they look at the shoes and only see them as shoes,” senior SADD member Greg Bilodeau said. “But the project is so much more than that because of the people that these shoes represent, who die each day from smoking.” The shoes certainly drew attention, making the intentions of the project successful. “I think it’s pretty creative and also really effective,” senior Nora Eskin said, “because we can see the number instead of just reading it.” SADD adviser Janet Valuk coordinated the collection of shoes and also emailed South’s staff about Kick Butts Day to inform them of the contents and purpose of the display. Some teachers were able to plan an interactive activity around the exhibit or incorporate its statistics into their lesson for the day. Valuk said members of SADD arranged the display “in an effort to reduce the number of young people that use tobacco products.