From Oct. 23-27, CHS9 participated in the annual Red Ribbon Week program, a national initiative committed to spreading awareness among students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. 

Real life impacts of drug and alcohol overdoses are a heavy topic to introduce to younger students, especially to those in sensitive situation backgrounds, such as losing family and friends to substance abuse. 

“We want to make sure we’re not portraying these people [substance users] as bad people, because they’re not,” CHS9 Student Council sponsor Erin Begle said. “But we also want balance with having real conversations and giving students information at an appropriate age rather than just saying ‘no’ and that’s a good enough reason.”

As a  positive and engaging approach to spreading awareness, CHS9 implements spirit dress up days to help open conversations about drug awareness. 

During the students’ advisory period, a Character Strong lesson, which is a portion of students’ advisory periods’ dedicated to educating students in stress coping skills, covered topics relating to drug and alcohol awareness and how they affect coping mechanisms. 

“Character Strong is about building positive and healthy coping skills, such as having people holding you accountable and making  sure you’re making good choices as an alternative to negative coping skills,” Begle said. “Negative coping skills could lead to drug use for some people.”

At Lunch and Learn, a learning opportunity held during Hour Block Lunch, students wore inebriation goggles and Drug Enforcement Administration agent Diana Abraham touched on the history of Red Ribbon Week. With students, she discussed the immediate impacts of substance abuse, such as how it can impact their driving ability and decision making skills. 

“People need to be aware of the damage that they can cause, so they don’t want to do drugs,” CHS9 student Reid Womack said. “Being more open about it and talking about drugs is better than not talking about it at all.“

Both Womack and Begle believe that being drug free is more important than ever with the rising deadly cases of Fentanyl. An opioid drug usually used as an anesthesia and pain relief, small, uncontrolled doses such as Fentanyl are often enough to immediately kill. High school students often buy Fentanyl unknowingly off of social media or school, unaware of the severe risks the drug brings.

“The world is no longer a place with the opportunity to risk and try something one time,” Begle said. “You don’t even have the opportunity to be addicted before you lose your life.” 

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