Soter’s Director of Implementation, Bruce Barcelo is asked to make many presentations and help school districts around the country with vaping issues and concerns. He had worked with Sycamore School District in Ohio several years ago as they tried to get a handle on student vaping. This past year, Sycamore and multiple other school districts worked with the University of Cincinnati to provide a parent/staff night of information. Because of this relationship and recommendation, Steve Burgess, Executive Director for the Ohio School Resource Officers Association (OSROA), made the request for Bruce to be a keynote speaker at this year’s OSROA Conference.
The room was filled with over 700 dedicated OSROA members, many of whom represent their local Police Department and or Sheriff’s Department. Bruce was given 2hours to address the major concerns of vaping and youth. He covered pertinent updated data, and health information, and what got the most attention was “Bruce’s Best”. This is where he covered the evidence-based, best practices of vaping prevention. Although all slides were made available to participants, phones came out all around the room as these dedicated officers took pictures of each “Bruce’s Best”. After the presentation, many officers came up to ask additional questions or to share their experiences with youth vaping. “I feel extremely honored to have been asked to present to this esteemed group of dedicated individuals.” Bruce said.
