Tar Wars

In the spring of 2025, all 2,000+ fourth and fifth-grade students in the Barrow County School System participated in Tar Wars, a tobacco-free education program developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Through Tar Wars, Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow and Barrow County School System partner to teach students about the health effects of tobacco use, the cost associated with using them, and the advertising techniques used by the tobacco industry to market to youth.

About Tar Wars

BCSS has been partnering with Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Barrow since 2018 to teach students about the health effects of long and short term tobacco use, the cost associated tobacco products, the advertisement techniques used to market to youth, and the dangerous and addictive chemicals in tobacco. Ellen Petree, BCSS School & Community Relations Specialists says, “Through the Tar Wars data from pre and post-tests, we see considerable knowledge gained by our students each year. We are also very thankful for our educators incorporating this program into health education each year. It is an honor to partner with Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow in this program, since Barrow County has a high incidence of lung cancer. We are convinced knowledge is power, and further educating our youth will affect change.”

As part of the program, all students design a poster to illustrate their learning and discourage tobacco use. Each class selects the top 3 posters to be submitted for district-level competition in the Tar Wars Poster Contest. All posters are sent to Sunita Singh, Public Relations Manage for NGMC Barrow. She and her PR team narrow several hundred posters to nearly 40 semi-finalists. The Barrow Area Rotary Club narrow the semi-finalists to 10 finalists by selecting one poster from each elementary school. The hospital then conducts a Facebook voting campaign and the top 3 poster entries are selected. The top 3 posters also go on to the state competition.