19th Nichtrauchen Competition encourages Smoking Prevention in Schools

The 19^th edition of the Luxembourg Cancer Foundation’s Nichtrauchen initiative encouraged 84 school classes not to smoke.

For the past two decades, the Mission Nichtrauchen competition has given students the message that not smoking is a health priority. This year, 108 classes took part, of which 84 remained non-smokers.

Whilst it is easy to start smoking, it is even more difficult to stop and stay a non-smoker in the long term and, since the first experiences with smoking are generally around the age of 11 to 14, school is a particularly important place for preventive measures. This is where the Mission Nichtrauchen competition comes in. Aimed at young people aged 12 to 16, the rules of the contest are simple: the participating classes commit to not smoking for six months. If more than ten percent of students smoke, the class in question is eliminated.

For this edition, 108 classes from Luxembourg participated with 2,111 students. The perseverance and dedication of 84 of those classes paid off; they remained non-smokers. This represents about 78%.

For the big closing party this 5 June, the Cancer Foundation invited the finalist classes to the Place d'Armes in the capital. As part of a rally across the city, the students mastered sports challenges as well as quizzes with questions about smoking. After George Christen's Power Show and the two dance groups at the Clausen Youth River House, the grand finale continued with the prizes awarded to the winners of the rally.

This year's winners were: 1st prize (Le'h Adventures Park in Dudelange) went to 5CCL2 from Lycée Josy Barthel Mamer (Teacher: Mike De Vos); 2nd prize (Kayak in Lultzhausen) went to 7G04 from Lycée Classique Diekirch (Teacher: Laurent Hilger); 3rd prize (Wild cooking / Teambuilding Park in Marienthal) went to 6CLC1 from Lycée Robert-Schumann (Teacher: Michèle Steines).