Red Ribbon Week events resume, highlight dangers of drug use
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RONAN — Ronan Middle School recently concluded its Red Ribbon Week, teaching the kids about the importance of making good decisions in the face of drugs and alcohol.
Red Ribbon Week was started in 1985 after the death of DEA Agent Kiki Camarena. After Camarena’s death, friends of his launched “Camarena Clubs” in which they wore red ribbons and pledged to lead drug-free lives to honor the sacrifices made by Camarena and others. This turned into Red Ribbon Week and the idea quickly spread across the nation, even landing itself in Ronan.
While RMS had celebrated the week for years, PE teacher Steve Woll said that during COVID they’d had to back off of the activities. When they returned last year, he and fellow teacher Madison Wassam got permission from the principal to try and breathe some new life into it.
“It’s an ongoing effort for drug prevention,” school librarian Amy Miller commented. “We’ve really been working here at Ronan to increase our activities for the week. It’s something that some of our kids have struggled with, so we really want to make sure that we’re taking some time addressing that our kids … I think that Steve was really at the heart of organizing this.”
After their success last year gaining guest speakers and sponsors and with Wassam stepping away to have her baby, Woll planned ahead and began work for this fall’s Red Ribbon Week last spring. Word had already spread by then he said, so much so that he actually had to turn away some people who volunteered to contribute.
Although Red Ribbon Week was only a few days, the school kept the lesson up for the entire month of October. One of the group projects assigned to kids earlier in the month was to create their own anti-drug TV or radio commercials. “Some were so good you could put them right on TV without editing,” Woll commented. “They’re so good with technology these days.”
Another project early in the month saw students hold a mini poster contest. The winning design was printed on T-shirts donated by a sponsor that every single kid would receive. Two other poster contests were held as well, letting nine kids throughout the grades win gift certificates for $10 to $100. The poster contest winners were Paige and Payton Steinback and Arinna Schall in first place; Keeley Jackson, Ether Montoya, and Maya St. Clair in second place; Fred Webster, Teagan Wandering Medicine, Brander McCollum, and Zander Bennett received third place; Jax Brown got fourth place; and Ryleigh Learn and Paisly Corum both earned fifth place.
For Red Ribbon Week this year seven guest speakers attended events, notably professional athletes Michael Cooper and Preston Dennard from the LA Lakers and Rams respectively. In addition, numerous locals stepped up to speak with kids both in individual classes and in assemblies about the importance of good decision making. People ages 20-46 from the NARSS Program came and told their stories of addiction. Members of the Drug Taskforce paid a visit, as well as some local musicians and even SRO with a presentation about drug dogs, all trying to help guide students toward making better decisions overall.
The week closed out with a fun-run that broke the school into 25 teams combining all grades. For 45 minutes, kids could run laps or walk or hang out with their friends, collecting a paperclip every time they went by their starting line. When time was up, teams were scored based on the percentage of paperclips collected.
Ms. Holly Duffey’s team won and there were prizes for the top five kids in each grade, as well as the top five teachers. There were random drawings for prizes throughout the run, as well as giveaway boxes full of lanyards, sunglasses, or even shoestring backpacks for each grade. Every kid who participated came away with something, including a shirt with the winning mini poster that read, “Keep tobacco sacred.”
“It was quite the ordeal,” Woll laughed. “We’re just fortunate to have all of our helpers, all of our sponsors, all of the teachers and everyone. It was a joint effort for everybody.”
“It’s been a great week for our kids,” Miller said. “The kids have just been really engaged and excited about what’s been going on. I think that they’re learning a lot. It’s also just a great time to build community within our school.”
The winners of the Fun Run were:
5th Grade
- Alex Finley
- Nevona Jackson
- Tyler Buhr
- Aiden Schall
- Jamisson McCrea
6th Grade
- Alyssa Burke
- Eternity Running Rabbit
- Ruger Peterson
- Brander McCollum
7th Grade
- Austin Schall
- Alexis Finley
- Elijah Zepeda
- Ethan Day
- Payton McEldrey
- Zuriah Kelly Diaz
8th Grade
- Keygan Prapot
- Malaki Curley
- Skylar Sias
- Uriah Read
- Benjamin Running Rabbit
