North College Hill teen uses art to help kids quit vaping

Samantha Murry-Shakir's still a teenager, but she's been creating art for well over a decade.

Back in first grade, she made a bear out of torn brown construction paper and pasted it onto a turquoise background – a project she later entered in a citywide contest.

“I'm an artist,” said Murry-Shakir, 18, who graduated from North College Hill High School earlier this year. “I’ve been doing art for as long as I can remember.”

This past spring, Samantha’s artistic and writing skills landed her the first-place prize in her school-wide anti-vaping contest.

“There are risks with every puff,” she wrote in her award-winning essay. “My peers may be stuck in this cycle of flavored vapor for years.”

Part of the issue, she said, is how easily teens can acquire vapes. North College Hill High School, for instance, is less than a five-minute walk from a vape shop.

She channeled the discouragement she felt from seeing classmates vaping in between classes into her submission, where she expressed concern about how vapes affect teens' mental and physical health.

“I could totally write an essay about that,” she remembered thinking. “I have some feelings.”

Murry-Shakir used an app called MediBang as a tool to draw her cartoon. Digital art is her preferred medium, though she likes to dabble in watercolor and acrylic as well.

In her free time, Murry-Shakir works at her local public library. “I like to read a lot. I own at least 250 books,” she said.

Her job is shelving books, but she says the library’s a great hangout spot for kids who want to use computers, hang out with friends, or do homework after school.

Murry-Shakir is only at the beginning of her writing and drawing career. In August, she’ll attend the University of Cincinnati to major in fine arts. After college, she’s got her sights set on a career in publishing and illustration.

“I want to become an author,” she said. “Or at the very least, a graphic novel illustrator.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: North College Hill teen uses art to help kids quit vaping