At the Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School carpool line in Starkville on Monday morning, students poured out of their parents’ cars with goodbyes and their backpacks strapped on ready to take on the world.
Almost all of them were wearing red.
This week schools across the country, including those in the Golden Triangle, are observing Red Ribbon Week — a nationally recognized week focused on drug abuse prevention and the ways it can impact people.
“Red Ribbon Week was started by a family partnership in 1985 when a (Drug Enforcement Administration) agent was murdered,” Columbus Middle School counselor Yulinda Beckum said. “It began to raise awareness of killing and destruction related to drugs. … Celebrating this week, we want to encourage our students and others in the community the importance of living drug free.”
Students at CMS will participate in a parade on Thursday morning, and throughout the week, they will be given stickers, pencils and other small goodies with little notes to stay drug free.
In the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, students from elementary school to ninth grade are dressing up with different themes as counselors visit the classrooms throughout the week to talk about drug abuse prevention.
HWS third-grade counselor Jennifer Vickers said because of the students’ young age, the curriculum of lessons the counselors teach is based on good decision-making.
“We focus on peer pressure and making healthy choices,” Vickers said. “… It’s mainly just learning right and wrong right now and what to do when something is wrong. It’s important to help children make good decisions because they’re the decision-makers for our future.”
The theme isn’t far off from the new style of Drug Abuse Resistance Education that police are teaching in schools which focuses more on decision-making and healthy living. Starkville Police Department’s Cpl. Tonya McWhirter and Cpl. Kenya Bibbs are the department’s two DARE officers, and McWhirter is set to be the next DARE state coordinator of Mississippi.
McWhirter said the curriculum DARE uses is evidence- and science-based and caters to various age groups to make it relevant to young elementary students all the way to seniors in high school, and it is now all about decision-making.
Bibbs said she sticks to the curriculum when she visits the school, but she also lets the kids know what she sees when she is on patrol in their own town.
“Because I also do patrol, I’m able to tell the kids stories about what actually happens here in town,” Bibbs said. “I want students to never be afraid to say no, and I know that kids get into things they shouldn’t when there is a lack of education about it and a lack of responsible adult supervision.”
The pressure around drugs kids now face comes in the forms of vaping, synthetic marijuana edibles and abusing prescription drugs such as adderall. Bibbs said oftentimes the bad cases come from overconsumption where children eat a handful of marijuana gummies past the recommended amount.
Bibbs, who was also a teacher and is a Starkville native, said she’s seen the pressure to do drugs start as early as fifth grade, and talking to the kids early on and giving them trusted people to talk to is just as important as saying no to drugs.
New Hope High School counselor Jenny Box agrees.
“It’s so important for parents to just have conversations with their students,” Box said. “Have those conversations and create that environment where your child will talk to you about those things and not be scared about it.”
Box said though NHHS isn’t doing much for Red Ribbon Week, she and her colleagues work to teach students the dangers of drugs, even using other people’s prescription. They also address peer pressure, which can be from family members just as often as it can be from other students.
If a student does come forward with a drug problem or they begin to notice it, Box said there are resources in place to help the students and the counselors handle each case on a one-on-one basis.
“I’ve had to make phone calls (to parents), and we give referrals any time things like that are needed,” Box said. “We give mental health services, anything — if they need food, clothing, that’s just part of what we do to take care of our students. Whatever the need is, we try to make sure there’s a service in place. We may not offer it, but we can refer them.”
Other schools in the Lowndes County School District are celebrating the week with themed dress-up days, poster and essay contests.
Caledonia Elementary School counselor Camille Washington said it is important to recognize this week each year and talk with students about the risks of drug abuse and poor decision-making.
“This is something we need to talk about, and it is so important to recognize this week each year,” Washington said. “Drug abuse is serious, and we need to help our kids out.”
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