Putnam Youth Tobacco Awareness coalition
The Putnam County youth are taking actions steps to make our community healthier. Check out the Youth Projects section below to view the project that are already completed.
For more information and to learn how you can get involved: Please contact Sarah at the Putnam County Health Dept at 419-523-5603 ext 103 or at her email at [email protected]
Putnam Youth Tobacco Awareness
Youth Projects
Click on the “PYTA Youth Action Plan” below to view the steps we are taking to prevent tobacco use and help those using tobacco.
PYTA Youth Action Plan
The goal of the Putnam Youth Tobacco Awareness (PYTA) is to increase the community’s awareness of health concerns around cigarettes and electronic cigarettes to prevent new nicotine users and to help support existing nicotine users.
The Putnam Youth Tobacco Awareness Coalition has reached the 2 year mark of working in Putnam County.
Below are examples of the projects that Putnam County students worked on this year.
Art Contest
65 Putnam County students from 9 Putnam County Schools submitted a project for an anti-vaping art
contest. After participating in the art contest, 98% of the participants agreed that steps should be taken to reduce young people’s access to tobacco/nicotine products. 96% of students said youth should never experiment with
tobacco/nicotine.
Environmental Impact of Nicotine
Ecolizers, a club at Glandorf Elementary,
planned a science experiment during Red
Ribbon week to bring awareness to the
environmental impact of tobacco
products. This year the Glandorf 7th and
8th graders did a science experiment to
see the effects of cigarette smoke and
alcohol on tetrahymena (stand in for
human cells). The Ecolizers then used the
data from the experiment to produce a
presentation. To bring awareness for the
need to add nicotine to local school
hazardous waste policies, this
presentation was given by 4 students,
Jocelyn Vogt, Peyton Ellerbrock, Ava
Riepenhoff, and Hallie Beining, at the
Elementary School Principals’ meeting in
January 2026.
Store Audits
Two teams of students, including Jackson Greve, Addison Greve, Mia Davidson, Oliva Siekfer, and Logan Siefker went around to 24 Putnam County tobacco retailers and collected data. They found that 1 out of every 3 stores had tobacco/nicotine products near candy or toys.
Compliance Checks
24 Putnam County Stores received a
compliance check in February or March
2026. 87.5% of the stores are within
compliance.
Village Zoning
From the beginning of the coalition, the youth wanted to work on policies that would have the largest impact on reducing youth’s access to tobacco and nicotine products. In April and May, Donald and Addison worked to create the scripting around the village zoning meeting. On May 19 , the two of them along with Jackson, and Sarah attended the Fort Jennings Village Council meeting and provided them with local data supporting zoning and advertising policies to help protect Putnam County youth. On June 16, a draft of the advertising and zoning policies were provided to the Fort Jennings Village Council for review.
Public Service
Announcements
4 Public Service Announcements were created by the PYTA coalition with the goal of preventing youth from starting nicotine use, and providing resources for parents to quit tobacco. Donald Recker worked his writing skills to create a draft for the workgroup. Donald as well as Addison both did an amazing job working on the recordings for the PSAs.
Glandorf Elementary Students
During Red Ribbon Week, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Ansley and the Glandorf 7th grade Ecolizers performed an experiment from the ASSET Program to test the effects of vaping on model organisms. They created a video of their findings so click the link below to check out their results. The video is on the Glandorf Elementary School Facebook page on Nov. 12th, 2024.
News Segment at Hometown Stations
Sarah Nsiah had a chance to go on the Noon Edition with Hometown Stations to promote the Youth Action Plan that the Putnam Youth Tobacco Awareness Coalition has been working on the past year. Click below to watch the video.