STUDENTS TAKE LEAD IN ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS THIS WEEK

Three Shawnee Mission Northwest student groups are trying to convince
their classmates that it's possible to have fun without alcohol and
drugs.

This week, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Students
Taking a New Direction (STAND) and Seeing Consequences and Reality
Education (SCARE) are hosting Red Ribbon Week, a national event that
encourages sobriety.

Northwest has hosted Red Ribbon Week in the past, but this year's
event is as much about having fun as it is about spreading an
important message. The organizations are hosting pep rallies featuring
the Shawnee Mission Northwest Marching Cougar Pride band and the
Spirit Club. A disc jockey plays music during lunch periods. And
students who commit to being drug free receive candy, red ribbons and
opportunities to compete in games. To signify their status, seniors
will receive bracelets instead of red ribbons.

SADD, STAND and SCARE members have solicited the help of other student
organizations to reach as many students as possible. The reasoning is
that students are more likely to listen to their peers than adults
when talking about serious issues, organizers said.

But organizers aren't worried that the abundance of fun activities
will drown out Red Ribbon Week's important message. After the fun and
games of the week pass, at least one of the students will make a
presentation about his personal experience with drugs.

SCARE usually makes presentations about substance abuse prevention at
middle schools, and has traveled to schools in Osage City, Kan., and
Slater, Mo. But Tim (not his real name), a senior, hopes especially to
get the attention of others in his class this week.

"When you're a senior, you've got senioritis and you think you have to
go all out for your last year and you think you can't get in trouble,"
Tim said. (His real name is not used because he is a minor and because
of his past behavior.)

But Tim wants all students to realize that while trouble may not seem
like an immediate problem, there are definitely consequences to
destructive decisions.

"He feels very passionate about reaching other students, so that maybe
they won't make the same mistakes he did," said Tim's mother.

Although he's active in the student groups, Tim's senior year is only
his second year in the organizations. He spent his first two years of
high school in rehabilitation, which limited his extracurricular activities.

Tim used illegal drugs and alcohol for the first time as a
seventh-grader in middle school. He was a short, overweight kid with
dreams of being an athlete like his father. But more than anything
else, he wanted to fit in.

"I saw these popular kids who were the stoners, and I attended a party
that I wasn't even invited to with the popular kids, and that night I
did drugs for the first time," he said.

In an effort to become more popular, Tim went on to use more
drugs.

But a series of negative and dangerous experiences led to his decision
to go sober.Many students don't see the repercussions of substance
abuse, Tim said, so this Red Ribbon Week, SADD, STAND and SCARE want
to educate students about the immediate and long-term consequences. In
his presentations, he talks about the affects substance abuse had on
him physically and mentally. With three organizations and the
assistance of other students, he believes Red Ribbon Week won't fall
on deaf ears.

"I've had friends die from overdoses and drunk-driving accidents.
I don't want to go to anymore funerals, and I don't think anybody else
should have to," he said.