When I came to Colorado Mountain College last year, I brought along with me a pretty unhealthy habit: smoking. I got hooked on it, as most people do, at a very young age. Not wanting to hear a bunch of grief from my peers about not doing what they were doing, I picked up my first cigarette. For about eight years, smoking was a daily part of my life. That is, up until about three months ago.

Smoking is not all that different from other addictions: smokers generally know it's not a good thing for your health. But quitting is easier said than done. Because it's so hard, most people just can't stop. But recently, the reasons for me to quit were becoming more and more compelling.

At Colorado Mountain College, I'm an RA (resident assistant) in the dorms. Providing advice, defusing conflicts and being an overall good role model for other students is all part of what I do. Very few of the other RAs are smokers. Not long ago, my supervisor came to me and offered me a grant-paying job as a student representative for Bacchus, a nationwide organization providing resources for college-aged students to quit smoking.

For me to take a job like that, I would need to walk the talk - I couldn't reasonably continue smoking if my job were to convince others to quit. Knowing that, I had to think it over. I thought to myself, "Well, if I can't quit for money, I might never quit (unless, maybe, for a woman)." A couple of days later, I took the job and I did what I had to do in order to accept it: I kicked the habit.

Now, as a representative for Bacchus, I can lend other smokers an important perspective: I've been there, and I've quit. From my point of view, I can tell others what a big difference quitting can make. First, I have more energy - my physical stamina is improving, and mentally, I'm more focused; I don't find myself pacing back and forth, needing a cigarette break every 30 minutes while I'm studying. Second, at the price of almost $5 per pack, the expense of the habit was adding up; I was pinching pennies to buy cigarettes.

Given what we know, quitting is simply the healthy choice to make. CMC is in a perfect place to promote healthy lifestyle choices, and the college is definitely on the frontline of new ideas to do so. But the bottom line is, the choice to start, and the choice to stop, will always be the person's to make.



Alex Vosicky is a second-year student in the outdoor education program at Colorado Mountain College's Roaring Fork Campus. He will graduate in December of this year.