Eileen Lewis was 16 years old when she tried her first cigarette.

Four years later, that one drag has turned into a half-pack-a-day addiction she's trying to kick.

"At first I started smoking and it was a social thing, then I came [to college] and I was surrounded by it," Lewis said. "I'm smoking more now than I ever did."

Lewis said her roommate smoked during her freshman year at the University of Connecticut, and now that she has moved off campus, two of her roommates do.

"So we're a bad influence on each other," she said.

Kim Winters, manager of the tobacco control program at the American Lung Association, said that's a problem many college students encounter.

"It's very hard to quit when there are people around you who are always smoking," Winters said. "If you're trying to quit, you really do have to break off from the smoking crowd, separate yourself for a little while."

Lewis has decided to quit now because she's scared - of getting a smoking-related disease and of having an addiction.

"When I try and run, I get short of breath a lot faster," she said. "I'm scared about [getting a smoking-related disease], but what also scares me is the addiction, it's the fact that I'm aware I'm addicted."

Lewis will be joining millions of other Americans today in trying to quit as part of the the American Cancer Society's 23rd Annual Great American Smokeout Day.

In 1971, Arthur P. Mulvaney created the event in Massachusetts, asking people to quit smoking for a day and donate the money saved to a high school scholarship fund. The event spread across the country until 1977, when the American Cancer Society organized the first Great American Smokeout. Since then, the event is held annually on the third Thursday of November.

The event, for some, gives the extra boost of having a "quit buddy," Winters said. "I don't know. I hope that I can do it," Lewis said. "What will help me is if I know my friends around me aren't [smoking] either, then they're my influence."

Winters said people trying to quit need to remove themself first from "triggers" - socially smoking with a certain group of people every day, or creating outings that focus on socializing with cigarettes.

After eliminating social smoking circumstances, Winters said, the most difficult thing to shake is the physical addiction.

"When you light up in your car at the end of the day, that's physically done out of habit," Winters said.

"That is going to be one of the hardest things to stop - smoking after I eat and after class," Lewis said. "I come home and just sit there for a minute and have a cigarette. That is what I'm going miss the most."

In addition to the smokeout, students and anyone else who is trying to kick the habit can attend an orientation program put together by the American Lung Association. Programs are hosted throughout the state, Winters said. A clinic will be held in Danielson, 37 miles sourtheast of Storrs, on Thursday, Jan. 27 from 6 p.m. 7:30 p.m.

Those who attend will undergo a behavioral modification program that helps the nicotine-addicted break free from the social and physical circumstances under which they smoke, Winters said.

"We're going to be offering the 'freedom from smoking' program, offering free Zyban, thanks to funding we've gotten, or the nicotine patch at 90 percent off the retail price," Winters said.

Twelve-week supplies of the anti-depressant are being offered because studies have shown in the past that smoking over a long period of time affects the brain chemistry, Winters said.

"There's an actual change in the makeup of the brain where, if you quit, . . . without the nicotine, your brain doesn't function properly," Winter said.

The antidepressant Wellbutrin, which was originally used to treat depression, was found to have an added effect of making it easier for people to quit smoking. Since then, the new anti-depressant drug Zyban is being used for smokers.

Winters does not recommend that everyone use the nicotine patch offerred in the clinic, as it could actually make a lighter smoker more addicted.

"If you're smoking less than half a pack a day, I wouldn't recommend wearing a patch," Winter said. "Zyban, on the other hand, has no nicotine in it."

Those interested in registering for the program should call 1-800-LUNG-USA.

Those who are going to quit on their own can try using the American Cancer Society's "4 Ds" to hold back cravings:

Take DEEP breaths. Slowly inhale and exhale.

DRINK plenty of water, especially during cravings.

DO something else to get your mind off the craving. Call a friend, go for a walk or chew on a carrot stick.

DELAY reaching for a cigarette. The urge will pass.