WHAT ABOUT RECOGNITION FOR THE GOOD STUDENTS?

As a senior at Long Beach High School I will graduate in May with
numerous honors. I am disturbed about recent articles in The Sun
Herald depicting students in Long Beach as habitual drug users. There
are students in the schools using drugs who are giving our community a
bad name. But what about students like me - good students who have
strived for academic excellence while living a moral life demonstrated
by my parents?

It upsets me to read stories in which parents defend their children
for drug use and point fingers at "prominent families" in Long Beach,
as if such families are responsible for the drug problems. Drug
addiction knows no class, prominent or otherwise.

I know who the drug users in the schools are, and I choose not to be a
part of that lifestyle. These students have chosen to participate in
these activities. It's sickening that some of their choices have been
deadly.

Being involved in extracurricular activities has made me take pride in
my school. The questionable group of students go home at the end of
the school day and do not even try to be a part of the school atmosphere.

I believe that drug use is due to students not taking responsibility
for their actions and to parents who don't demand respect from their
children. It's not always welcomed, but I am glad that my parents
check up on me constantly through my cell phone to see where I am and
what I am doing. I know they do this for my protection.

Even with a car, I have boundaries and curfews, unlike those students
who are allowed out all hours of the day and night.

But I am not the only student at Long Beach who is responsible,
reliable and, most importantly, refuses to be pressured into drug use.

What about students like me who are focused on our studies and other
activities at Long Beach? When do we get our recognition? Why do we
get labeled as "cliques" when we all have the same common goal and
that is to succeed and further our education?

Elizabeth Holbert, Long Beach