Teen wins first place in anti-smoking video statewide contest
By ALEXANDRA CALDWELL
Article published on Wednesday, July 16, 2008  |
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| Photo by ALEXANDRA CALDWELL |
| Rachel Sbrissa shows off the iPod Touch and new Macintosh computer she won from the YouCare video contest, sponsored by Tobacco Free Florida and YouTube. Her antismoking video won first place out of 150 entries in Florida. |
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CLEARWATER – As a toddler, Rachel Sbrissa walked up to strangers to tell them smoking is bad. At 16, she watched her grammy die of pancreatic cancer.
Sbrissa had lived with her grammy, Lee Page of Dunedin, off and on throughout her life, she said, and they were very close. Page had never smoked. Why, Sbrissa asked, would someone choose a habit that increases one’s chances for any kind of cancer?
This was her inspiration for her award-winning anti-smoking video.
“Different types of cancer affect people in different ways, but the bottom line is that cancer is a horrible disease,” said Sbrissa of Clearwater. “I mean, it’s eating you from the inside. She was a completely different person because of the pain and all the medication she had to take.”
Sbrissa, who will turn 17 on July 21, was at her grammy’s deathbed when the YouCare winners were announced. Only after she returned home did Sbrissa learn she’d won first place out of 150 entries in the antismoking video contest sponsored by Tobacco Free Florida and YouTube.
People voted for their favorite videos, uploaded to YouTube, and judges scored the top 50 on originality, entertainment value and the creative way that the video showed the relationship to smoking and the theme, YouCare.
She couldn’t believe she’d won. All she’d had was Microsoft Paint, she said, where she drew stick figures and put it together frame by frame in Windows Movie Maker. A stick figure girl with scruffy black hair and one eye bigger than the other narrates in Sbrissa’s voice. She doesn’t smoke because second-hand smoke smells, cigarettes cause yellow teeth and fingers, lung cancer, and it’s expensive. Besides, she adds, have you ever kissed someone with tobacco breath? Ew.
Sbrissa won a Macintosh computer and an iPod Touch with “YouCare Contest Winner” engraved on the back.
“It’s kind of like an iPod and a trophy at the same time,” Sbrissa said.
She thinks her grammy would be proud, she said, because after Page retired, she went back to school to learn about graphic art. The whole family is artistic, Sbrissa added.
“Oh, Rachel, she’d be so proud,” her mom, Teri, replied.
Rachel has always had strong feelings about right and wrong, Teri said, and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Teri hopes her video, which airs on the statewide On-Demand channel devoted exclusively to the campaign, will especially impact people her daughter’s age.
“For so many years, that was something that was glamorized, but we just see it as another drug,” Teri said. “ABCs – alter your brain cells.”
“Because black lungs are sexy,” Rachel replied.
“Yes, you can wear your black dresses, but don’t wear black lungs,” Teri said, referring to her daughter’s black clothes, eye makeup and lipstick.
She doesn’t have to worry.
To view Rachel Sbrissa’s winning video and the nine runners-up, go to www.tobaccofreeflorida.com. Click on the link called “You Care.”
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Article published on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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