Game Show Activity a Big Hit at Kapa‘a Middle School STEM Night

Looking for a fun way to engage teens on health topics? Tobacco-Free Kaua‘i has adapted a popular game show to educate students on the harms of tobacco and e-cigarettes.

Clue: a popular quiz game show that is not usually associated with Generation Alpha (born 2010-present), yet was a big hit at the Tobacco-Free Kaua‘i booth at the Kapa‘a Middle School’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Night.

Answer: What is Jeopardy?

Yes, you read that correctly, Jeopardy! The popular TV game show in which the host gives clues for the participant to guess the answer in the form of a question, but revamped with tobacco and vape categories. 

In March, the Tobacco-Free Kaua‘i (TFK) Coordinator, Valerie Saiki, was approached by Michelle Rapozo, the Kapa‘a Middle School Parent Community Network Center Coordinator, who was organizing to fill their annual STEM Night with community resources to conduct interactive STEM-related activities. At the same time, Kapa‘a High School’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club advisor reached out to the TFK coordinator to see if there were any upcoming projects or activities the HOSA student could support. This scenario became the perfect opportunity for the high school students to create an interactive activity for the middle school students. 

The TFK coordinator educated the HOSA students with a Tobacco 101 course where they learned shocking facts about vaping and tobacco. The students felt if more kids their age or younger knew this information, they would choose not to experiment with nicotine products, especially vaping. From there, the students gathered the most eye-opening facts and immediately came up with a question-and-answer game, but the real question was how to attract middle school students to want to engage in the activity. Instantly, they thought of the style of Jeopardy. The students found a free Jeopardy template online and thought presenting the game board with animation would increase youth participation. The students also felt the same tobacco data would be helpful for parents and decided the game would benefit the whole family.

The categories for the game were: tobacco facts, side effects from nicotine, vape flavor or candy?, vaping in adolescence, interesting (tobacco) facts, and vape or NOT!

Jeopardy’s unique and visually interactive answer-and-question format to present tobacco facts to students and adults helps make it fun to learn. Whether the student or parent got the clue correct, they could still read the “question” on the follow-up/answer slide. The HOSA students hoped that all participants (and audience) learned the facts through this game show process. The game rules were different than the TV show rules. Each participant could select and answer any three clues (points/money values were not tabulated at this event due to a large volume of participants). Right or wrong, participants still received 808 No Vape or Breathe Akamai swag for participating. 

The Kapa‘a High School HOSA club also presented this STEM activity to National HOSA to show their volunteerism in the community to promote healthy behaviors. On June 24, 2023, the Kapaʻa High School HOSA team attended the International Leadership Conference for HOSA in Dallas, TX, where 12,000 students across the nation and the world competed in events related to the medical field. Kapaʻa High School won the Outstanding Recognition award for their work in the community, including creating and implementing this tobacco Jeopardy game at the local middle school. Congratulations Kapaʻa High School!

If you would like a sample of the template the students used for your community, please send a request to the Kaua‘i Coordinator, Valerie Saiki at valerie@hiphi.org.