SPEAKER PUSHES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AMONG STUDENTS

Youth can take responsibility for their lives by controlling their
attitudes, monitoring their words and staying involved in school,
motivational speaker Michael Walden said Wednesday at E.B. Aycock
Middle School.

The Pitt County Substance Abuse Coalition is sponsoring Walden, a
retired Army staff sergeant, to give 17 presentations this week. He
will present a free program on "Dreams or Drugs" to the community
Friday from 7-9:30 p.m. at D.H. Conley High School.

Walden began his "Attitude is Everything" motivational program seven
years ago. He tours by bus across North America, speaking to more
than 100,000 students a year. When he is not speaking, Walden rescues
young people from drug houses and looks for runaways.

"This is ministry for me, but I don't come to preach at the kids,"
Walden said. "I'm hoping that through my message, if a kid is kind of
failing, or hanging out with the wrong crowd, I'm really hoping that
they say, 'You know what? I need to make a change.'"

Besides Aycock, Walden is speaking to middle school students at
Grifton School, Farmville Middle, Bethel School, Ayden Middle and
C.M. Eppes Middle. Topics include being the best you can be, winning
respect, attitude is everything, and drugs and gangs.

Walden said that all his messages can be summed up in one word:
Attitude.

"I believe attitude is everything," he said. "No matter what you do,
you have to have a winning attitude."

Delilah Jackson, Aycock's principal, said that Walden's advice about
self-esteem, having dreams and staying away from drugs "are the types
of things that middle school students need to hear."

"I think it will have a huge impact," she said. "I noticed that he
captivated the students, and his message is real because he's
experienced it. I think sometimes they need to hear from someone
outside of the school about the things that we're teaching them every
day."

The main event Friday is "so that we can get the community and
families on board with how do we help our children achieve their
dreams," Renee Willis, coalition executive director, said. She said
the program will give families ideas on broaching the subject of
drugs and alcohol.

The program will also include performances by the North Pitt High
School show choir, the Ayden-Grifton High School musical theater and
dance department and the D.H. Conley honors dancers. Door prizes,
including hammocks, gift certificates and school supplies, will be
given away. Refreshments will be provided by Chick-fil-A and Pitt
County Schools' child nutrition services.

"Our purpose behind this is how do we get school personnel, parents
and youth conversing with each other about making healthy choices,"
Willis said. "We need to engage in conversations with our children
and for our children on their behalf. Our kids are making great
choices, and a lot of times they're not affirmed for that."

Willis said that four out of 10 middle schoolers have had a full
alcoholic drink. While those numbers might surprise some, Willis said
that students she talked to thought the incidents were much higher.

"They figured it was at least six to eight kids per 10," she said.
"It's our role as media and parents and teachers to help change the
perceptions and encourage them to feel more comfortable about feeling
affirmed."

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SURVEY RESULTS

The Pitt County Substance Abuse Coalition administers the Risk
Behavior Survey to middle and high school students every other year.
The survey was last administered during April and May 2005 to 2,093
middle school students taking health or physical education and 3,972
high school students. Survey respondents did not include students
suspended or expelled at the time of administration or who had
dropped out of school - the most at risk youth.

Middle School

24 percent have smoked a whole cigarette

14 percent smoked within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

39 percent have had a drink containing alcohol

17 percent consumed alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

17 percent have tried marijuana

10 percent used marijuana within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

High School

39 percent have smoked a whole cigarette

21 percent smoked within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

61 percent have had a drink containing alcohol

35 percent consumed alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

41 percent have tried marijuana

22 percent used marijuana within 30 days prior to taking the
survey

Pitt County eighth-graders reported that within 30 days prior to
taking the survey:

1 in 5 smoked cigarettes

1 in 4 drank alcohol

1 in 6 used marijuana

Pitt County 12th-graders reported that within 30 days prior to taking
the survey:

1 in 4 smoked cigarettes

1 in 2 drank alcohol

1 in 4 used marijuana

The National Monitoring the Future survey reported that among the
eighth-graders who drank alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the
survey, half of those were binge drinking, defined as consuming five
or more drinks on a single occasion.