A WELCOME CHANGE IN ANTI-DRUG PITCHES

It is pretty much a given that a large number of the students who
filled the OSCVI auditorium on Wednesday for Mitch Dorge's
presentation about drugs didn't feel like they needed to be there in
the first place.

Anti-anything presentations tend to be a necessary trade-off for not
having to go to class, and many students who sit for hours hearing -
note how I didn't say "listening" - to a stranger about how
fill-in-the-blank is bad for you automatically turn off their
conscious minds for a while.

This isn't to say that guest speakers are not needed or that they
offer nothing to students.

On the contrary, keeping drugs, alcohol, bullying and other such
issues in the limelight at schools increases awareness and helps
develop negativity toward trying anything that would endanger
yourself or others. Examples of deaths from drunk driving and
personal testimonies from gambling addicts actually can make a
definite difference to a high schooler. Those who volunteer their
time and energy to show teens a better way are to be lauded. But
here's the problem - we've heard it all before.

There is a fine line between being engaged by something and being
desensitized about it. It may seem like a good idea for guest
speakers to pass around gruesome images of injuries throughout their
presentations but, most teens are at the point where even these won't
deter them in the slightest. You can hear snickers in even the most
serious anti-drug speech.

This was thankfully not the case when Mitch Dorge, the drummer for
the Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies, took the stage. He
appeared to be well aware of the response he would receive if he dove
directly into his main talking points, so he made sure there was
plenty of time to warm up the audience with jokes and off-putting,
yet hilarious, requests. Creating an atmosphere where teens are
enjoying themselves so much that they don't even realize they are
absorbing information is key in dealing with us (you know, short
attention spans and all).

Advertisers bank on this technique, so it's nice seeing it being used
for a more positive result.

Even if we don't mean to, teens can fall into a daze when listening
to anything over an hour without break. Dorge caught this before it
happened by periodically giving random compliments to the audience.
He would be discussing meth lab burn victims and smoothly segue into
describing how spiky someone's hair is. Just when the crowd should be
drifting off, Dorge starts playing the drums to wake them up.

Group participation was no problem, everyone was paying attention
and, judging from the smiles in the audience, enjoying themselves
immensely. In fact, only twice have I have seen such enthusiasm for a
guest speaker and both times it was for Dorge - Wednesday at OSCVI
and last year at my own school, St. Mary's.

It's understandable that not every speaker can express themselves
with such enthusiasm as Dorge, but his approach is certainly the most
effective in reaching teenagers without being either condescending or
so "cool" that the message is lost.

Malcolm Swoboda is a co-op student from St. Mary's High School in
Owen Sound currently working in the newsroom at The Sun Times.