The Safety Environment and Education Center aims to help UT students breathe easier through “The Great American Smokeout” today on Pedestrian Walkway.

For Rosa Thomas, a coordinator for the S.E.E. Center, giving up smoking is a celebratory matter.

“It gives you more birthdays,” Thomas said.

The S.E.E. Center hopes to encourage students to give up tobacco, even if it is just for one day, through “The Great American Smokeout.” This event is taking place on Pedestrian Walkway today from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

“The Great American Smokeout” is a nationwide initiative used to get as many people as possible to give up tobacco products. All the sponsors of the event ask for is one day. If you feel better without tobacco following this first day, they encourage you to keep it up.

“I think any kind of advertising like that against smoking is helpful for people that do or don’t smoke,” said undecided junior Allen Rice, an admitted occasional smoker. ” … Anything like this that encourages you to stop couldn’t be anything but beneficial or indifferent for those that listen to it.”

According to the American Cancer Society, quitting can lower your heart rate and blood pressure within twenty minutes.

Students who pass Rosa and the S.E.E. today will receive an anti-tobacco gift bag complete with information on how to quit, the benefits of quitting, and even a pin to wear to show that they are tobacco free. The informational gift bag also includes pamphlets on the shocking costs of smoking, secondhand smoke, and the dangers of smokeless tobacco.

One of the pamphlets from ETR Associates states that “inhaled tobacco smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic and lead. At least 250 of these chemicals are toxic or cause cancer.”

Although this event is usually done through the Student Health Center, the S.E.E. Center took it upon themselves this year as they widened their coverage of issues on campus.

“This is the first year that ‘The Great American Smokeout’ has been done through the S.E.E. Center,” Thomas said. “This is an example of our program, ‘Vols Help Vols.'”

“Vols Help Vols” is an initiative in which students are taught to help their peers that they see in need.

The S.E.E. Center has recently expanded its initiative to focus on many more issues than before. In the past, they focused mainly on issues concerning alcohol. However, now they have refocused on a larger scope of issues, including tobacco and sexual assault.

Students who cannot make it by the event on Pedestrian Walkway are asked to stop by the Student Health Center to pick up information about tobacco products. Rosa Thomas assured students that information would be made available to anyone interested in quitting.