TEENS CREATE ANTI-DRUG ATTENTION GETTERS

See a swoosh, and you think Nike. Catch a glimpse of a contour bottle,
and Coca-Cola flashes to mind.

There are logos and slogans that leave little doubt as to their
corporate identity.

Committee members are hoping for the same kind of recognition for the
Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon, a project being driven by the
Muskegon Community Health Project.

The project has taken a giant first step toward that kind of brand
association -- in an orange, high-top sneaker, no less -- thanks to a
pair of contests in Muskegon area schools.

The orange sneaker is part of the project's new logo. It shows the
shoe, labeled Muskegon, stamping out a joint. It also depicts a puff
of smoke curling up like a thought balloon. Inside the smoke are the
words "drug free."

The new slogan for the project is equally provocative: "Reach for the
sky, not for the high."

Get ready. You could be seeing both the slogan and the logo a
lot.

"They're what we hope to use on our stationery and, hopefully down the
road, on billboards," said Kathy West, chairwoman of the coalition
steering committee.

Both slogan and logo come from the minds of a pair of creative
Muskegon-area students. Neither thought they'd win the contest.

"I was just brainstorming," said Cailey Loring, who dreamed up the
image of an orange sneaker stamping out drugs. "I wasn't expecting it
at all."

Loring, an 18-year-old junior at Fruitport High School, took first
place in the logo competition.

The winning entry in the slogan contest was the brainstorm of a
12-year-old student at Oakridge Middle School.

"I was really excited," said Megan Taylor, whose "Reach for the sky"
line caught the judges' eye. "I was jumping up and down.

"I was thinking of a whole bunch of different slogans, probably about,
like, four or five. I picked what seemed like the best one."

That is precisely what contest organizers were hoping for, said Laura
Fitzpatrick, program coordinator for the Muskegon Community Health
Project. "The point was really to start having these kids think about
drugs and alcohol," she said. "This gives them some ownership."

Until 2006, the Drug Free Coalition for Muskegon was known as Toward a
Drug Free Muskegon Community Program. The name was changed to more
accurately reflect the mission of the project, which is funded through
a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
Substance Abuse and mental Health Administration.

One of the goals for the project is "to reduce and prevent substance
abuse in the community, primarily among young people," West said. But
she said an additional goal is "to create a coalition so you're
working collaboratively."

That means working with a diverse group of participating
organizations, including churches, court officials, businesses, media
and, significantly, young people.

With that in mind, the contests organized by the coalition's media
committee were about a lot more than seeking out a new logo and
slogan. It was about getting young people involved with the
coalition's work.

"Youth have to be at the table so we're not just doing this to them
but communicating with them," West said.

Competition was open to Muskegon County students in grades 6-12.
Organizers solicited entries through brochures placed in schools. The
logo contest attracted 82 entries. The slogan contest drew 88.

First prize in each contest was a new IPod, the portable digital music
player made by Apple Corp. Other top prizes included gift
certificates.

But the top contest finishers had their minds on more than just
prizes.

The brainstorming process for her slogan was original, Megan said, but
her parents, Tracey and Ron Tyler, already had armed her with
considerable information about substance abuse. "They told me not to
do drugs and stuff and to be really careful about what I do," she said.

And Loring said she has a keen awareness of the importance of the
topic. "I've had friends who have gotten into drugs," she said. "It's
really sad to lose friends that way."