On Jan. 28 three Quantico Middle/High School students were awarded an honorable mention for their anti-tobacco use video by Capt. Kimberly Elenberg, of the U.S. Public Health Service and head of the Healthy Base Initiative. In the fall, HBI sponsored a nationwide video contest titled “Fight the Enemy” for teens in an effort “to change attitudes about tobacco by framing tobacco use as the ‘enemy’ that hurts our friends, families, health and fitness,” according to the promotional flyer. After a public voting period  and voting by senior Department of Defense and government officials closed, the video by Davion (13), Kwesi (13) and Zane (14) was selected for the award.

During the award presentation in the QMHS gym, Elenberg emphasized how impressed she was with the simple yet powerful message in the boys’ video, titled “Ball is Life” after a popular basketball website. Viba Saligrama, coordinator of the contest and a member of the HBI team said the site donated t-shirts, basketballs, and other merchandise as prizes for the boys, and their video has inspired ideas for other HBI programs that hope to incorporate the theme of pursuing a commitment to sports and an active lifestyle as a way to encourage students to live tobacco-free and healthy lives.

Davion recently transferred to Okinawa with his family and so was not available to attend the ceremony, but Saligrama said the team would mail him the prizes and award certificate. In addition to the Ball is Life prizes, Kwesi and Zane can also look forward to a bowling and pizza party sponsored by Marine Corps Community Services.

Kwesi, an 8th grader and member of the middle school basketball team, said his favorite thing to do is play basketball, and that he would love to be a professional basketball player some day. If that does not work out, he aspires to become a lawyer. An active young man all around, his favorite class is PE, followed by language arts.

Zane, a 9th grader and manager of the high school basketball team, also loves to play and wants to be a professional player. If he cannot make that happen, he would like to be a police officer. Like Kwesi, his favorite class is PE, followed by social studies.

ebaker@quanticosentryonline.com