Red Ribbon Week!

The SADD Club proudly presented Red Ribbon Week starting March 24th, 2023 and continued the celebration till March 31st. This was one of the major events for the SADD club where we decorate, develop a theme week of activities and what we wear, and make morning announcements on statistics about alcohol, smoking, drug abuse, and violence.  

Monday’s theme was “Don’t Be a Statistic Day.” Tranquil Tuesday’s theme was “Meditate, Don’t Intoxicate.” Wednesday was ‘’Stomp Out Drugs’’ Day by wearing boots. “Lei” off drugs was Thursday where we supported the idea that we should not rely on drugs as a decompress to our stress or anxiety but focus on more reliance on ourselves to be active and do what is best for mind and body as a whole. Lastly, on Friday we all wore red to support the drug and violence prevention awareness campaign.  

Volunteer members in the SADD club dressed all black and wore a paper on the front and back of their shirt represented a person who died from a certain abuse, such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and smoking abuse at a young age. According to research, “An estimated 79,117 Americans died from drug overdoses between January and September 2022” (The Commonwealth Fund). According to the National Institute of Health, “Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes.” The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) states that there are “more than 480,000 deaths annually from cigarette smoking, including deaths from secondhand smoke.”  Throughout the day, a volunteer could not interact with friends and had to remain silent until the end of the school day to bring awareness and getting people’s attention just by reading and seeing how many people just die each year from overdoses and abuse in consumption. Friday is when we all wore Red to finish it off and participate together in saying no to drugs, making better decisions when come across these things, and helping others not fall into the dangerous habit of being dependent on substances because they feel it is their only solution.  

Society now has many ways of getting information out there - whether with a good purpose or not, people become informed much more quickly and can affect someone deeply where they know how to manage and cope, so they lean on to others’ advice or suggestions. We should always lean on to what is more wise and beneficial advice and recommendations to others to go on the right path and not make those mistakes without having a friend look out for them or correct them.