Dangers of drug use shared during Red Ribbon Week
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RONAN — Red Ribbon Week activities were held every day last week in Ronan Schools to bring awareness about the dangers of drug use.
“It’s never too early to start talking to kids about the dangers and how to be safe when dealing with drugs,” said Ronan teacher Madison Wassam.
Red Ribbon Week events kicked off with a personal story of recovery from local military veteran Tomy Parker and concluded with speakers from the Never Alone Recovery Support Services. The fun run originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 27 was moved to Tuesday, Oct. 31, due to cold weather.
Three speakers came from NARSS on Oct. 26, including Shay Ashley, Steven Morigeau and Levi Clatterbuck. The speakers shared their personal experiences with recovery from substance use and how substances negatively impacted their lives.
Ashley, who is the outreach director for NARSS, said: “When I was a child, we only had DARE and that showed us what drugs looked like but there was never somebody to tell us what kind of lifestyle would come from those drugs.”
Steve Woll, event coordinator, spoke to the students. “We are lucky to have as much support as we have had from the community, so much so, we have had to decline speakers due to how many volunteers we have had, and we hope to have all of these speakers in at some point.”
Eighth grade student Alexa Youngren stood up and encouraged others to listen to the speakers that their words could have a positive impact on their lives.
Student Leo Lozeau added: “I think it’s cool that these guys are able to come in and tell us about their experience so that we can better avoid making mistakes in our lives.”
During the week, students put up posters with messages of “say no” to drugs and participated in other awareness activities.
