On Nov. 4 the Catholic, all-girls school started a program that focused on and discussed a different substance each day. Nicotine kicked off the week because "it is a drug used by some students at the school, so learning about its harms will really hit home," said event organizer and student council member Jhale Ali, 16.

A number of Presentation High School students traded in their uniforms for black outfits in an effort to educate their classmates about the dangers of cigarette smoking. The volunteers wearing black symbolized individuals who have died from smoking.

Along with wearing all black, around 50 volunteers donned white signs that read, "Today I will die of a smoking-related disorder."

Each student represented a casualty from one of six different smoking-related diseases, including throat cancer, heart disease and emphysema.

Each hour between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., volunteers who had "died" were no longer allowed to talk to anyone or have anyone speak to them.

The event also included posters with statistics about smoking. During morning homeroom, event coordinator Ashley Howell read statistics and led a prayer over the public address system.

"In the United States alone, 4,000 people die of smoking-related diseases a year," Howell said in her speech. "Today 6,000 teens will try a cigarette for the first time; 3,000 of these teens will become daily smokers and eventually 5 million teens will die" as a result of smoking.

Tenth-grader Olivia Nunez, volunteered for the event after she found out about the "shocking" number of people who die each day due to cigarette smoking. She never knew her grandmother because she passed away before Nunez was born. Her grandmother was a smoker.

Nunez symbolized a person who had "died" from throat cancer. "I realized this was a big deal and I wanted to let everyone at my school know."

At lunchtime, all those who had "died" sat together to create visual impact. Seeing her classmates sitting together made a strong impression on Megan Crowley.

"It is depressing to see that," Crowley said. "Some of the people you know may die from that."

The event was entirely student-run, said history and social studies teacher Siobhan Ippolito.

"Ashley gathered volunteers and made arrangements with speakers to visit the school throughout the week," Ippolito said.

Although most coordinators were on the student council, Howell is on a subcommittee responsible for special events such as Drug Awareness Week.

The rest of the week's events focused on the use of Ecstasy, marijuana and alcohol. Speakers included San Jose Police Department Officer Ray Cedeno, who spoke about Ecstasy, date rape drugs, how to detect if a friend is using a drug and how to help during an overdose.

Two years ago a study was conducted by Stanford University at Presentation High School. The study initially sought to discover whether eating disorders were more prevalent at all-girls institutions or coeducational schools, but also included anonymous surveys on drug and alcohol use by students at the school.

"The study revealed that drug use was low on the campus but binge drinking was an issue," Ippolito said.

The school also holds a drug and alcohol awareness night for parents once a year, and it is mandatory for the sophomore class to study drug and health issues.

"The school's not trying to pretend like the use of drugs and alcohol is not happening," Howell said. "They want to show us statistics so we know what's going on and can make the right decisions."