STUDENTS LEARN TO 'SAY NO' DURING ANTI-DRUG WEEK

It's a message that is undoubtedly repeated all year long, but during Red
Ribbon Week, schools turn up the volume.

They bring in magicians, celebrities and athletes to get the message
across: say no to drugs.

At River Ridge Elementary School, magician Steve Holt mixed tricks and quips.

After making Chinese rings link and unlink, Holt overlapped them to create
a sphere.

"This is the shape of the world and all the rings touch each other," he
said. "At River Ridge, we have a lot of friends. Friends are to help each
other. If we know that someone has a drug problem, tell someone. If you
tell someone, you won't be tattling."

Holt called on one girl and two boys in the audience to help him
demonstrate what drugs can do to a person's body. He wrapped a rope around
the girl, and gave one end to each boy. When the boys pulled the rope, it
appeared as if the rope passed through the girl's body.

"When a person takes drugs, it affects your head, it affects the way your
hair lays, it affects the way you hear, it affects the way you taste when
you eat a McDonald's hamburger," Holt said. "When a person takes a drug, it
goes in their mouth, in their throat, in their stomach and it makes them
very sick."

Holt's tricks made the students gasp with delight, but his message was serious.

"Life is not a trick. Life is not a game. Life is very real," he said.

At Arcadia Elementary School, Mayor Bill Barnet, Miss South Carolina Kelly
McCorkle and Wofford College athletes Currie Gossett and Grant Sterley
spoke to the students Wednesday.

"The decisions that affect your life are ultimately made by you," Barnet
said. "I hope that every night, you take the time to read and take the time
to learn things from your parents and good friends. Do those things that
make your body healthy and your mind healthy so you can live a long and
healthy life."

McCorkle called on three volunteers and gave each one a pair of oversized
sunglasses with letters on the lenses. When the students stood
side-by-side, their sunglasses spelled the word "shades."

McCorkle said the letters stood for things that she thinks are cool -
studying, helping other people, accepting yourself, dreaming, eating
healthy and exercising, and saying no to drugs.

"That's the coolest thing you can do," McCorkle said. "You can decide right
now with me that you're going to say no to drugs."

Gossett, a volleyball player at Wofford, told the students that bad
decisions along the way could make it even harder for them to reach their
goals.

"I hope everyone in here has a goal because you can decide right now to go
on that course by studying hard, respecting your family and friends, and
saying no to drugs," she said.

Sterley, a basketball player, told the students how one bad decision could
change a life.

"When I was in high school, I had a couple of friends on my team," he said.
"They were really good players, but they thought it would be cool to try
drugs. Well, they got caught and got kicked off the team. One of them even
went to jail. And they all lost their college scholarships because the
colleges didn't want them on their teams if they were going to use drugs."

The week's message sank in with the students.

Fourth-grader Ta Martin, 10, wants to graduate from high school and play
professional basketball someday. His classmate, Jhair Thomas, 10, wants to
play football at the University of Miami.

They vow to stay away from drugs.

"They can harm your body," Martin said.

"They can control your body," Thomas added.