Campanie contacted area school advisors and recruited two or three students from each of five schools: Hamilton, Oneida, Morrisville, Chittenango and Cazenovia.
 

She says the program was open to any student who had interest in the issue and that "many stepped up and said they wanted to be involved."
 

One of the students, 17year-old Amanda Lafrance of Chittenango, says "when approached about the project, it kind of hit me that they are right about all the different advertisements, kids are constantly talking about getting drunk, and you see all these accidents on the news." She feels, "it would be nice to make some changes."
 

Campanie says the students will be going out into the community looking for alcohol advertisements that "target youth and promote underage drinking." They will be also be looking at product placement.
 

The students began by attending a media literacy training program, which Lafrance says, "taught us how to interpret commercials and different advertisements."
 

Since taking the class, the students have been on their own conducting research. Lafrance says her group has been visiting local stores and taking photos of alcohol placement. She says that many stores stack beer next to soda displays or in the middle of aisles near cookies. She notes soda and cookies are items popular with younger kids.
 

Lafrance conducted an experiment in which her 10-year-old sister, Jamie Leigh Tedford, purchased an alcohol-related T-shirt that stated on the tag that only someone over 21 should purchase the item. Jamie Leigh easily purchased the shirt.
 

The group will attempt this experiment again later in their project, siting that, it may have been a one time oversight.
 

Lafrance says they are also researching television commercials that may appeal to a younger audience. She gave the example of the Bacardi rum advertisements with rocket ships and the Corona beer spots with a parrot. She says, "younger kids are attracted to bright colors," such as the parrot in the Corona commercials.
 

Once school starts, Lafrance's group will conduct a student survey to discover how students got introduced to alcohol. The survey will also try to determine whether their perceptions of advertisements had anything to do with wanting to drink.
 

"We hope that eventually, out of their assessments, the students will go back to their stores or teen hangouts and try to change some of the things that bothered them," adds Campanie.
 

The end result will be videos put together by each group, which will then be presented in Albany to legislators. The students will also present their findings at school board meetings and in other community forums.