900 STUDENTS CARRY MESSAGE

Moreno Valley: La Jolla Elementary Pupils Hit The Sidewalk To Make A
Point About Drug-Free Living.

The 900 students at La Jolla Elementary stomped out of class and
through the neighborhood on Tuesday, yelling, singing and carrying
signs, pledging to live a drug-free life.

The event, which took less than a half-hour to empty the school, is
the 2-year-old school's Red Ribbon Week campaign, called Stomp Out
Drugs in Our Community.

"By that walking through the community and actually taking that active
role, they're learning not just to make a sign or to hear about it.
They're taking an active role to say, 'We don't want this in our
community. We're going to stomp out drugs in our community,' " said
PTA member Christine Newman.

The students' stomp received help from members of the school's staff
and PTA, parent volunteers, neighbors and a custodian, who watched the
traffic, said Wade Hamilton, La Jolla Elementary's principal. A police
cruiser accompanied the group, and the officer inside turned on the
lights and sirens intermittently, which got the students excited, said
Hamilton added.

Neighbors stood on their lawns to watch the students go by on the
sidewalk for the several-block walk.

"To have 900 students walking through the community really makes an
impression to the neighborhood as well," said Newman, the PTA member.

All the classes at the school participated in the event, including
kindergarten and special education. Some of the students created
banners and signs for the event. Some children wore red, played
tambourines, sang songs or carried banners, signs or American flags.

"The kids really enjoy making their signs, seeing the families come
out of their homes to support the children as they are on the walk and
just really take an active role, and hopefully, this will carry
through into the rest of their lives," Newman said.