Waiariki Institute of Technology has stubbed out cigarette smoking on campus grounds for good.
The tertiary institute celebrated yesterday as Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick unveiled a sign at the Mokoia Campus declaring them a smokefree area. Mrs Chadwick sponsored the Smokefree Environments Amendment Act in Parliament during her time as MP for Rotorua in 2004. She said back then she would never have thought being smokefree would appeal to students and that they would embrace this healthy lifestyle choice.
"When we first passed the act, I never imagined students would grab on to this," Mrs Chadwick said. "A decade ago, I never could conceive this would happen, that public spaces and institutions would become smokefree. Thirteen years ago, to get that law changed through the House, I offered to pick it up. As a midwife, I believed this is the right thing to do. It was one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life but it was the right thing."
Student support and services director Richard Bird said it had been a long journey for Waiariki to declare themselves smokefree ahead of World Smokefree Day tomorrow.
"We are all very serious about our responsibility as educators to ensure we have a healthy learning environment," he said.
