Student council promotes healthy choices
Senior Adam Simpson checks out his Celebrate My Drive prize while Principal Tracy Gleghorn and Assistant Principal Matthew Quick try to talk him out of some of his treats. Student names were drawn daily for prizes all week.
Wanting to change things up a bit this year, the student council opted out of Family Focus Night and instead set up a booth at the football game the Friday night before Red Ribbon week to give members of the community a chance to join in taking the pledge to remain drug free. The event also finished off a week of pushing Celebrate My Drive week.
The Friday-night booth followed the same concept as Family Focus Night and offered the same message, but set out to reach a different crowd.
“Family Focus night has run its course,” adviser Melonie Menefee said. “There is so much going on in the fall that it was getting increasingly harder to find a weeknight free to hold it; it was also getting harder to draw a large crowd and reach lots of people. We were looking for a way to reach out to the youth in our community about staying drug free that didn’t have parents and kids out of the house instead of spending time together. The football game seemed like a perfect solution.”
At the booth, anyone signing a pledge slip was given a free Don’t Do Drugs necklace. There were also key chains, bookmarks, and stickers for participants. Student council members connected the signed pledges and created a paper chain that showed off the number of people at the game willing to make a commitment to a drug-free lifestyle. The chain was displayed on the sidelines during the second half of the game.
“Working the booth was really fun and a interesting,” sophomore Sarah Burchfield said. “It amazed me on how many kids came to sign the pledge.”
Celebrate My Drive week was a new event for the student council to push; it is sponsored by State Farm Insurance. The local State Farm agent, Karen Thomas, and her office provided prizes of t-shirts, backpacks, and treat bags throughout the week to promote the event, which encourages safe driving.
“Celebrate My Drive came was the week before Red Ribbon Week, which worked out well,” Menefee said. “Our primary goal is keeping our students safe and helping them to make wise choices; I’m hopeful that we helped accomplish that this week.”
