According to the National Institute of Health, 19.8% of high school sophomores, and 31.2% of high school seniors have used drugs in just the past year. Drug use is a serious issue in our country among teens. Luckily, Salem R-80 has a program to inform teens about the effects of drug abuse and to battle the rising number of addicts in our country. Red Ribbon Week is a full week dedicated to preventing tobacco use, smoking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and violence. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Red Ribbon Week allows adults to teach teens the importance of a drug-free life. Keeping kids off drugs was a team effort at Salem R-80 between the Student Council and Teens on Prevention.
Red Ribbon Week is an important, fun week at the high school. The theme of the week this year was Life is a Movie: Live Drug-Free. To spice up the week, Student Council and Teens on Prevention worked together to create a spirit week based on the theme of Red Ribbon Week. Monday’s theme was Movie Night Should Be Drug-Free: pajama day; Tuesday, Don’t Let Drugs Turn You Into a Villian: dress as your favorite hero or villain; Wednesday, Don’t Let Drugs Rule Your Emotions: dress as the color of an Inside Out character; Thursday, Don’t Scream, Stay Clean: wear your Halloween costume to school; and Friday, Be A Champion, Say No To Drugs: rep your favorite sports team. Not only were there exciting dress-up days but there was also a door-decorating contest for each classroom. The theme of the door-decorating contest was Halloween Movies, and students incorporated a drug-free message within the movie theme. Aside from all of the fun things the school did to promote living a drug-free life, there was also a serious aspect to it all. Teens on Prevention leaders, Carlos Lopez and Jason Jones, came to the school each day of the week to inform each class about the benefits of living a drug-free life. Each class got their own assembly during strive time to truly drive home the importance of staying away from tobacco use, smoking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and violence.
