At Century Middle School in Thornton, like at a lot of schools across the state, administrators struggle to respond to students consuming nicotine, especially vaping or using nicotine pouches.
Principal Kristin Devlin, who has led the school for six years and been in education for 24 years, said it's becoming more popular.
“Much more common,” she said. “I don't even think that there's, like, really the attempt made to conceal them anymore,” noting students used to hide vapes in jackets, hoodies and disguised flash drives.
Kids are picking the habit up younger, she said. In her office, I spoke with an eighth-grade student named Khloe Munoz. She said she first became aware of kids vaping nicotine in third grade.
She remembered a friend vaping with a couple of other classmates under a slide on the playground.
"She would, like, steal her mom's (device),” she said. “They would just hit it under there.”
Khloe said she's seen where that can lead. “It's really addictive to most kids and it's just hard for them to stop, especially if they’ve been addicted for a while.”
According to the latest survey, from 2023, nearly 6% of Colorado middle school students used an electronic vapor product in the past month. For 13-year-olds, the number was higher, about 8%; 3% of those 11 or younger said they’d used a vape in the past 30 days.
A motivational plea: come up and turn in a vape
It's stories like this that prompted the school to invite a guest to speak to students — Kyle Wimmer, a high school art teacher turned motivational speaker.
At an assembly in the gym, with the school's Comets logo on the wall, Wimmer wore a Denver Broncos jersey and a backwards baseball cap. He displayed a variety of vape devices and pods on a table.
“All of these vapes up here have all been turned into me by students after they've heard me speak,” Wimmer told hundreds of middle schoolers. He said they can turn in their vapes free of judgment and punishment.
“By the time I'm done talking today, my goal is to have one person that's strong enough to come up and turn their vape in,” he said.
Wimmer's presentation is an educational whirlwind.
He talked about his own struggles with alcohol. With a slideshow projected on a big screen, he told students and teachers about health risks, corporate tricks to lure kids, peer pressure and addiction.
“When you're stressed, you hit your vape. When you're happy, you hit your vape. Before you go to bed, you hit your vape,” he said, describing an addiction that can manifest within days of steady consumption.
Success stories
Afterward, perhaps a few dozen students came up to Wimmer to share stories of their challenges and successes.
One told him of his finding a way to quit.
“Congratulations, that's awesome!” Wimmer said. “Thank you so much,” the student replied.
Wimmer handed out wristbands, different colors signifying quitting — for 24 hours, 24 days, 24 weeks. The focus of his addiction education and sobriety advocacy is encouraging young people to quit, whatever they’re hooked on, for good. 24/7.
“Which color bracelet would you like?” asked Wimmer, who goes by the name of Mr. FOUR 24s. His work has been covered by the NYTimes, and he’s spoken at conferences, like one hosted by Stanford Medicine.
The bracelets serve as both a reward for quitting and a pledge to keep it up.
"Technically, I made it a year,” one student tells Wimmer as he hands her a bracelet. “Look at me! Look at me, doing good,” she said, with a smile.
One student’s story
The simple act of turning in a vape helped Madison, a junior at Mountain Range High School in Westminster, who said she began vaping in middle school. “It started out of peer pressure, as it usually does. My friends started doing it, and they told me that I should do it, so I did it,” she said.
Madison says she eventually got hooked. Her go-to: the brand Geek Bar. “Honestly, any flavor.”
But she didn't like the way it made her feel. She'd get chest pains and shortness of breath. “It's not a good addiction at all,” she said, attributing the symptoms to vaping, which studies have shown can negatively affect brain development and cause lung damage. “I think it's one of the worst. It's difficult for me to run because I'll start to feel burning in my chest.”
As a student in an art class Wimmer taught at her school, Madison heard his presentation. Something about what he said moved her. “It felt like I wasn't alone, and I knew that I had a support system to go to.”
So, she decided to turn in her vapes. “I've always been embarrassed about the fact that I've vaped,” she said. “I was never proud of it.”
She admits it’s been a struggle, but one she’s glad to tackle.
“It gives you a sense of power over the situation because when you're addicted to nicotine, it has power over you. Very strong power over you. So, feeling like you have power over it helps. A lot,” Madison said.
Colorado’s teen vaping trends
A decade ago, Colorado held the distinction of being the No. 1 state for teen vaping, with double the national average.
In 2017, Colorado led the nation in youth vaping, topping more than three dozen states surveyed for the use of electronic cigarettes among high school students, according to the CDC. Twenty-seven percent of Colorado high school students reported current use, using an electronic cigarette in the past 30 days.
By 2021, the figure had dropped to 16 percent. It fell again two years later, to a little less than 9 percent, a third of what it had been six years earlier. That mirrored national trends. Experts credited Colorado’s on-going decline, in part, to a strong community response.
Those who start consuming nicotine as teens often struggle to quit and ultimately become adult consumers.
The most recent data from the state health department show adult vaping rates are rising in Colorado, driven by a sharp increase among young, college-age adults, those 18 to 24.
A lesson for teens: “I can do hard things.”
Back in the principal's office at Century Middle School, Wimmer said his push to get students to turn in their devices started out of the blue.
“I didn't even really mean for that to happen, and it happened. I noticed that there was a thirst, like, they want to share their stories.”
He said students fall into consuming harmful products like nicotine for a lot of reasons, a weakness, a curiosity.
But they benefit from talking it through as they consider quitting, he said.
“Kids want to share, they want to connect, they want to relate to somebody about this thing that they're going through.”
Devlin, the principal, said she thinks teenagers often aren't great at thinking ahead. “I speak to them about this all the time, as far as actions or you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.”
But her hope is that warning of the dangers and giving students solutions will help plant a seed, so they can say, “I can stop. I can do hard things.”
As proof, on the day of Wimmer's presentation, students at the middle school turned in four nicotine vapes, plus a pair used for cannabis.
Resources to quit
For those ages 12-17, the My Life, My Quit program offers free and confidential support tailored specifically for teens in Colorado to quit nicotine and tobacco products.
Sign up at MyLifeMyQuit.org or by downloading the app.
- The teens who made Colorado No. 1 in underage vaping 5 years ago are now young adults, and they’re still using
- Once top in the nation for youth e-cigarette use, Colorado’s usage rate has sharply dropped after community response
- Eagle passes a ban on flavored tobacco, becoming the 14th Colorado municipality to approve one
