SHIP stories
The Statewide Health Improvement Program
(SHIP) works to improve health through better
nutrition, increased physical activity and
decreased commercial tobacco use and exposure.
Colleges are a key area in which the Statewide
Health Improvement Program (SHIP) works to
improve health through reducing exposure to
commercial tobacco products. As of June 2011:
• 31 post-secondary schools in Minnesota are
working toward becoming tobacco-free
campuses.
“I don’t smoke because my life
depends on it,” says Mankato
State student
Starting in 2012 Minnesota State University-Mankato
has gone smoke free.
“I feel that everyone has a right to walk around in a
smoke-free environment, and allowing people to smoke
on campus takes away that right,” says a Mankato
State college student. SHIP staff in Blue Earth County
teamed with Mankato State and the American Lung
Association, Minnesota, to make the campus tobaccofree. The campus is home to over 16,000 students, staff
and faculty, and is home to the Viking’s training camp
and a number of sports teams. “Having good cardio is
extremely important to me,” says a student athlete. “I
feel that many more athletes like me will benefit from
a tobacco-free campus.”
Designating the university grounds, dormitories and
school-sponsored events as tobacco free helps not
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/oshii
only reduce tobacco use but also prevent second-hand
smoke exposure, thus promoting better health for a
large number of people. “I make my own personal
choice not to smoke, so why should my health be
impacted by another person’s decision?” says a student.
And adds another, “Having asthma, it is very hard
to walk behind smokers on my way to class. It is also
hard to breathe in my dorm room because smoke gets
in through the window. I don’t smoke because my life
depends on it.”
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SHIP works with communities across Minnesota to help
create real, sustainable health improvement. Find out
how at www.health.state.mn.us/ship