17–year-old Manurewa student Jessica Speechlay is one of the winners of a national competition to become part of the youth-focused Smoking Not Our Future campaign.
Jessica won the Txt2Star competition by coming up with a unique smokefree message to use in the campaign. She competed against about 800 entries and is one of six young people chosen to feature in the campaign.
Smoking Not Our Future spokesperson Susie Robertson says Jessica’s message – If your friends are trying to quit then just be there for them - was chosen because it gives a positive way to support quitters.
Jessica will be joining celebrities, such as Young Sid, J Williams, Jerome Ropati and Shortland Street’s Faye Smythe, who front the campaign. Jessica and five other winners from around New Zealand have been flown up to Auckland to be interviewed and to take part in a photo shoot for the campaign.
Many of Jessica’s friends and family smoke and she’d like to help them change their views about the habit.
“It’s their choice to smoke but I think smoking cuts down what people want to be in life. “
Jessica says some of her friends and family are quitting and she thinks young people should help each other quit smoking.
“I just tell my friends they can come and talk to me and there are people out there like teachers, family members or Quitline. There are lots of ways to break away from the addiction of smoking,” she says.
View Jessica and the other Txt2Star winners at notourfuture.co.nz
Smoking Not Our Future is a direct to youth campaign run by the HSC.
For more information visit notourfuture.co.nz or facebook.com/notourfuture.
