YOUTH GRANTS HELP OUT LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS

A state mini-grant brought the message of Red Ribbon Week to students in the
Maple School District this year. A similar grant is at work helping students
mediate problems for their peers at Central and East Middle Schools. Yet
another will bring families together for a night of fun and education at
Solon Springs School.

Student-planned projects to prevent alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse
are sharing about $200,000 in state funding for activities that have been or
will be held during the 2002-2003 school year.

In Douglas County, the following programs were funded: Northwestern
Elementary School Peer Helpers in the Maple School District -- $997;
Northwood School Students Offering Support (SOS) -- $1,000; Solon Springs
School Peer Helpers -- $1,000; and peer mediation at Central and East middle
schools in the Superior School District -- $1,000 and $900, respectively.

Northwestern fifth-grade students stretched their dollars to cover a full
week of education: CLIMB theater gave a presentation on bullying to
elementary school students; Middle school students received Youth Against
Tobacco training; Students at Northwestern High School put red ribbons on
car antennas to remind students to drive responsibly; Iron River Elementary
School students decorated grocery bags with drug-free messages.

"It went great," said Erika Kaufman, a counselor at NES who helped students
coordinate the events and apply for the grant. "We had a great response from
the students and teachers."

It was the first time Kaufman, who has been with the district for four
years, remembers Northwestern students celebrating Red Ribbon Week.

"It was a lot of work," she said, but "It's something we'd definitely like
to do in the future."

The Solon event, which takes place March 13, will bring families together
for food, fun, prizes and a little education. Community agencies will have
booths set up to inform parents about the services they offer.

Counselor Marty Gibbons said the family night is a chance "to see how the
school connects with the larger community."

Members of the school's peer helpers group planned the event.

State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster noted that Wisconsin is in its 14th
year of youth mini-grants for student-led projects and that comprehensive
school health programs are much more successful when youth are involved.

"Our young people understand what they want and need to successfully avoid
the pitfalls of alcohol, drug and tobacco use; violence; unsafe driving; and
other risky ventures," she said, "and research supports the benefit and work
of student-led projects."

Student groups wrote 547 grants, of which 223 received funding. Funding
priority went to projects that had a high degree of educational value and
would help students make connections between alcohol, tobacco and other drug
abuse (ATODA) issues and other youth risk behaviors such as AIDS/HIV,
violence and teen pregnancy.