ALBANY – Five Norwich High School (NHS) Reality Check students made the trip to Albany on Tuesday, February 7, to educate lawmakers on the value of New York State Tobacco Control Programs (TCPs) and the ever-increasing support for tobacco-control policies at the local level.

“We've made great strides in combatting the tobacco epidemic,” said Rose Walsh, Norwich Reality Check Coordinator and Coordinator of Tobacco-Free Chenango. “But more work needs to be done to reduce the significantly higher smoking rates among disparate populations in our region and throughout the state.”

That's the message that NHS students and Reality Check youth Loretta Lockwood, Damian Lockwood, James Wayman, Morgan Burdick, and Steven King pitched to state lawmakers on Tuesday, accompanied by their Advisor Rhett Genung and Reality Check Coordinator Rose Walsh.

Senator Fred Akshar, Senator James Seward, and Assemblyman Clifford Crouch were in attendance for the presentation.

According to a release from the NHS Reality Check, TCPs have been proven to reduce youth smoking and help current smokers quit, thus saving lives as well as millions of state tax dollars.