YOUTHWISE HELPS STUDENTS STAY DRUG-FREE

SPEARFISH - As officials from Lawrence County school districts become
increasingly aware that drug and alcohol use among youth is more of a
community-wide problem, rather than just a school problem, schools
are taking a more active approach in prevention and taking an active
role in helping children make healthy choices.

That's where YouthWise comes in. Based in Spearfish, this
organization funded by the South Dakota Division of Drug and Alcohol,
has contracted with Spearfish and Lead-Deadwood Schools to provide
programming and curriculum designed to help students make healthier
choices and stay drug free. Currently the organization is working to
support existing school programs such as peer helpers and the youth
advisory council, as well as provide additional programming such as
speakers and after-school activities to help teach kids about healthy
lifestyles.

"Students consistently on a national level report that very little
drug and alcohol activity happens at school," said program director
Angie King. "It is in the hours after school and days when there
isn't school when there is drugs and alcohol activity."

So, in a more holistic approach to prevention services, King said
YouthWise works to arm students with the social and life skills they
need to stay healthy in all aspects of life, using a research and
evidence-based curriculum. While this was formerly a job that only
the school system addressed through federal funding, King said the
federal government has since redirected those funds to be used by
community organizations to work with the schools to address the problem.

And it is a problem, King said. According to a 2003 survey conducted
by the Minnesota Department of Health, which focused specifically on
Spearfish, youth reported using drugs and alcohol 28 times more than
the national average. That survey, along with last year's Realtors
Against Meth presentations which featured Mary Haydal, a mother who
lost her child to methamphetamine use, helped YouthWise get its
funding to work with Lawrence County schools.

"We tried for four years to get the funding," King said. "I think the
success that RAM had in hosting the Mary Haydal series demonstrated
to (government officials) that this was a community that was
holistically, with a lot of synergy and commitment and collaboration,
willing to promote healthy choices for our community. So I really
have a lot of gratitude to RAM and their leadership in assisting with
bringing the money here."

According to King, YouthWise is only the third accredited
organization in the state to receive this funding in what is a
brand-new structure that brings communities and schools together.
Other organizations that are doing similar work in the schools
include Prairie View Prevention, the parent organization of the
Methamphetamine Awareness Prevention Program in Sioux Falls and
LifeWise, which provides similar services in Rapid City.

While YouthWise is currently working on organizing several classroom
programs about healthy choices, bringing speakers in to talk to
students, and organizing after school programs at the middle school
level to help children with idle time, the program, in its infancy,
is primarily working to identify the issues that need to be
addressed. The survey uses a nationally recognized model practiced by
the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration, and is completely
voluntary for students. So far, King said, students have been very
receptive to it. The results of the survey, King said, should be
available later this month.

Overall, King said the primary goal for YouthWise and for both school
districts is to send the same message to students. "We are trying to
promote that most people make healthy choices," King said. "Even if
(students) are in a social situation where they're the minority in
saying 'no' in some venue, they'll have the awareness to have the
confidence that they're not alone and they are in the majority in
making healthy choices. That's the intention around it."