Like many college students, Laura Cates said she has tried, but not succeeded, in quitting smoking.

"All my roommates smoke, so it makes it hard," Cates (junior-environmental systems engineering) said. "When I am at home, I don't smoke as much because I am not around it."

Next month will mark the fifth year of the Quit and Win Challenge at Penn State, a program adopted from the international Quit and Win smoking cessation program, Diana Ramos, a community health educator at University Health Services (UHS), said in an e-mail message.

The theme of the program, "Who Wants to be a Survivor?," is based on the popular television show Survivor, said Ellen Nagy, UHS marketing manager.

The aim of the program is to help students who want to stop or cut back on the amount of tobacco they use, she said.

"We are here to give them support to quit so they are not on their own," she said. "We are here to help, not to lecture, preach or judge."

To join the program, students must first complete a pre-program assessment, Ramos said.

The assessment helps to determine the best method for a student to quit, whether it be one-on-one meetings with a "quit coach" or meetings in small groups, she said.

Participants can also request a quit coach if they do not feel comfortable in group meetings, Nagy said.

A quit coach is a student peer educator who is trained not only in smoking cessation but also in alcohol and marijuana intervention, HIV testing and prevention counseling, Ramos said.

Anne Ray, a 2004 alumna who is now doing research at Penn State, has been a quit coach for the past two years, in addition to working in the alcohol and marijuana intervention program.

"It is different to work with smokers because they are here on their own will; they are not forced," Ray said.

Participants who have a quit coach meet for three half-hour sessions during the month, Ray said.

"It is cool to see people come in their first week and know that they went the whole week without smoking," she said.

Ramos said that on average, seven students each semester join the year-round program, while typically 30 to 60 students join the February program.

All participants receive a "quit kit" that contains a self-help guide, a rubber-band bracelet that says "Committed to Quitting," a stress ball, motivational cards and other knickknacks, Ray said.

At the first meeting, participants must do an initial carbon monoxide reading, to be compared with a final reading at the end of the month to chart their progress, Nagy said.