Reaching Everyone By Exposing Lies (REBEL) is an Anti-Tobacco program for teens in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. REBEL began back in 2000 at Kick Ash Weekend. It was originally funded under the Master Settlement Agreement

Master Settlement Agreement

The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was entered in November 1998, originally between the four largest US tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states...

. It is currently funded by the high taxes on tobacco products. Currently there are three division of REBEL. REBEL2 for middle school students, REBEL for high school students, and REBEL U/ROCS for college students. REBEL's slogan is "My mind, my body, my choice."

New Jersey REBEL has chapters in all 21 counties and in 76 New Jersey high schools as of April 2007. Each county and school chapter has a Youth Coordinator (and school adviser in school groups) who helps in using resources to aid with the group's plans and events. At their meetings, they discuss ideas and make plans to help fight against Big Tobacco

Big Tobacco

Big Tobacco is a pejorative term often applied to the tobacco industry in general, or more particularly to the "big three" tobacco corporations in the United States: Philip Morris , Reynolds American and Lorillard...

.

Achievements

• Smoke-Free Air Act
  Smoke-Free Air Act
  The Smoke-Free Air Act is a law that came into effect in New Jersey, USA, on April 15, 2006. This law prohibits smoking in any indoor public place and work place.-Exemptions:*Casino floors...
  
   went into effect on April 15, 2006. This new law prohibited smoking in any indoor public place.
• Age of Sale Increase. On April 15, 2006, the Age of Sale for tobacco product was raised from 18 to 19.

Great American Smokeout

Each school chapter is required to do an event for the Great American Smokeout

Great American Smokeout

The Great American Smokeout is a social engineering experiment on the third Thursday of November in the United States encouraging Americans to stop tobacco smoking. The American Cancer Society held its first Smokeout in San Francisco's Union Square Nov.16th 1977...

. Each year on the third Thursday in November, the American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

 sponsors this event to encourage people to give up smoking. Each school chapter holds an event within their school to encourage the student and staff to give up smoking.

World No Tobacco Day

Every year on May 31, is World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe. The day is further intended to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative...

. An event created by the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

. This day encourages people to stop smoking for day, in hopes they will commit to quitting. Each school chapter is also required to hold an event for it.

Kick Butts Day

Kick Butts Day is an annual event that aims to educate teens about the dangers of tobacco. It was started by the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids. It is another day that each school chapter is required to hold an event for.

RTLI

The RTLI (REBEL's Tobacco Learning Institute) is an event help once a year. Its goal is to educate select REBEL members. Each county sends a few of their members up to a 3 day overnight retreat. They attend classes to learn skills in educating others about the harms of tobacco. Some of the classes include informative classes like Tobacco 101, Tobacco 202, and Tobacco Control Across the Borders. They also have skills classes like, Communication Boot Camp, Lead with Power, and Group Facilitation. Each county also chooses an initiative. Each county must have 5 county events relating to their initiative, and each school chapter is require to have at least 1 event relating to the county's initiative.
The 4 initiatives a county can choose from are;

• Recruitment which aims to teach techniques to recruit new members.
• Advocacy which teaches the members to voice their opinions.
• Reading and Mentoring which teaches the county members skills to help with the groups mentoring program.
• Youth Empowerment which provides members with skills to work without an adult doing everything for them.

State Summit

Once every year members from all across the state gather at a single location. This event is to help keep members across the state keep united. During the morning the member get together and share ideas as well as make new friends. During the afternoon, the member have a fun activity. Many of the events have been held at Six Flags

Six Flags

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...

, with the members being together during the morning and then being allowed to roam the park for the rest of the day.

Mentoring program

The group currently has 2 books made by Scholastic. The Uninvited Guest, which is geared toward 2nd and 3rd graders, and Get Rid of That Smoke! which is geared toward kindergarten and 1st graders. Schools chapters can hold trainings to train their members to read to younger kids. Before a school can take their members to read to younger kids, all participating members must be trained in mentoring. The mentoring program is also a county initiative.

CRB

CRB (Chapter Representative Board)- Each high school REBEL chapter chooses a representative to report to the County Representative Board (CRB). The CRB shares event ideas, helps resolve issues within school chapters, and plans countywide events.

YAB

YAB(Youth Advisory Board- Within the CRB are two elected leaders that represent their county on the state-level Youth Advisory Board (YAB). The 42 YAB members participate in YAB Retreats where they address county issues, share success stories, brainstorm activities, and vote on amendments to the REBEL bylaws

K9

K9(Council of Nine)- From the YAB emerge nine leaders that make up the Council of Nine (K-9). These leaders represent the nine REBEL regions of the state. They plan the Annual REBEL Summit and the REBEL Tobacco Learning Institute.

Regions

• Region 1 Atlantic and Cape May
• Region 2 Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester
• Region 3 Burlington and Camden
• Region 4 Monmouth, Mercer, and Ocean
• Region 5 Somerset and Hunterdon
• Region 6 Union, Essex, and Middlesex
• Region 7 Hudson and Bergen
• Region 8 Passaic and Morris
• Region 9 Warren and Sussex