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Background:
Twenty-five Brookings-Harbor (OR) High School
seniors will write a nonfiction essay, anonymously or giving
their name, about the impact of illicit or prescription
drugs, inhalants or dip have had on their lives for October,
2009 (Red Ribbon/Substance Abuse Month). Some idea starters
that were provided:
- How drugs has affected my life? Whether it's scary or positive, feel free to share it. Remember to take it to the next level and tell us how it changed you.
- Are you dealing with peer pressure to use drugs, prescription drugs, inhalants or dip? How do you say no? Tell us more than just what you say or that you just walked away! Tell us what you do to avoid the pressure to try drugs and how you handle yourself in a situation where you are offered alcohol.
- How you have helped a friend stay drugs-free or how you have helped a friend to stop using drugs. Are there specific ways you and your friends have avoided using drugs.
- What do you know about the dangers of underage drugs use?
- How often do you see pro-drug content in movies, in songs, on clothes or elsewhere? How do you guard yourself against these kinds of messages?
- How old were you if and when you tried an illicit drug? What got you to try it?
Essay
Details: Essay length between 350 and 500 words,
typed, single spaced.
Judges:
Winners were selected by the Words & Pictures Book
Club & friends. Judges decision is final.
Awards:
The top 25 entrants receive a $5 gift certificate from
Fred Meyer. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a check for
$100 from The Citizens Who Care. The top 9 essays will
appear in an issue of The Curry Coastal Pilot during
the month of October (Red Ribbon & Substance Abuse
Awareness Month) as well as a gift certificate from Wild
River Pizza and published in The Pilot. All essays
(Issue I, II, III and IV) will appear on the www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org
web site.
What
is the purpose of the project? To get the students
involved in drugs awareness and to let the community see the
issue from the students' perspective. And to encourage the
police and judges to take a "No tolerance" stance and dole
out serious consequences to retailers, adults and minors who
violate the drug laws.
Why
is it needed? Studies show that a great many minors use
drugs. And, the public doesn't get to see the impact drugs
have on them from their perspective. It's time to
listen.
What
problems will it address? The generation gap of
knowledge and the magnitude and the seriousness of the
growing drug problem in Brookings-Harbor High
School and Azalea Middle school.
How
will you know the task was successful? When the
community as a whole stops saying, "We don't have an alcohol
or drug problem" until they actually aren't problems
anymore.
Sponsors: Wild
River Pizza, The Curry Coastal Pilot, Words
& Pictures, Fred Meyer and an anonymous group of
TheCitizensWhoCare.org
TheCitizensWhoCare.org was developed and
is maintained by Gordon Clay
Through My Eyes™ is a registered
trademarks of Gordon Clay