YELLOWKNIFE - Students at Weledeh school celebrated World No Tobacco day in true Yellowknife style last week, with a performance from Yellowknife based rapper Godson, and words from speed skater Jill Gilday and NWT Premier Joe Handley.

Gilday emceed the event, starting off by speaking about her own relationship with her health as an athlete, and introducing Megan-Tania Jones and Jose Esteban, two Weledeh students who spoke about why they had chosen to be smoke free.

Esteban addressed the concern of having celebrities that he respected being seen smoking on TV and in magazines, and in some cases, being paid by tobacco companies to do so.

He closed his speech with his personal thoughts on the topic.

"I wish people who try to influence young people to smoke would worry more about our health than their wallets going empty."

The stories led up to a performance of the song "Freezing Point" by Godson.

The rapper got down in the audience during the song, sitting with the kids, who were all smiles for the intimate concert.

Godson performed another song to cap off the presentation, during which the kids were encouraged to get up and dance as the Premier and Education Minister Charles Dent pulled the strings to release a couple hundred balloons onto the crowd.

Of the hundred or so kids in the Weledeh gymnasium, many were seen wearing their Butthead T-shirts while they danced.

The "Butthead" character is the central figure in the NWT Health and Social Services' "Don't Be a Butthead" campaign, which is aimed at educating kids about smoking and the tobacco industry and trying to catch them before they start.

Health Promotions Specialist Rosella Stoesz is filling in for a year for Miriam Wideman in the tobacco reduction department. Stoesz said that Health and Social Services has just recently completed a school tobacco survey, and is eager to see the results and compare with a similar 1999 study, to see how the Butthead promotion is working.

The study, available on the HSS website, shows teen smoking in the NWT to be double the average of the rest of the country, and nearly triple in the 12-14 age bracket.

Stoesz said the Butthead campaign was definitely "in response to a very strong need" for a youth smoking initiative in the territory.

After the presentation in the gymnasium, the students went outside in groups to participate in various activities and contests.

Stoesz said one contest included running a relay while only breathing through a straw, to simulate having limited breathing capacity.

"The number one aim was to be fun," said Stoesz, but also said the contests were designed to draw a connection between health and an active lifestyle.