October 23 through October 31, 2024, was Red Ribbon Week across the United States. This week the community schools celebrated students making good choices that focused on staying away from drugs and alcohol. Mainly, they celebrated with themed dress up days along with some other small activities.
“There are additional activities our students participate in throughout the week, such as ribbons for each classroom; students sign or pledge to be drug free; our SRO, Officer Dan Liennemann, has a presentation to the middle school students about drugs and alcohol [with] movie and popcorn that was provided by our Student Council; candy guess for the whole school; coloring contest and walking the track to pledge to be drug free for kindergarten through 2nd grade; poster contest for 3rd through 5th grade and a different poster contest for 6th through 8th grade,” said Owensville Community School Principal Tasha Jourdan.
These activities bring the school community closer and add some fun to the week according to Jourdan. They want the students to remember these weeks at school years down the road.
At Fort Branch Community School, they have a door decorating contest for each class. The students enjoyed taking part in the activities all around the school while still learning the importance of the week.
“All of our grades do a pretty good job of being involved,” said Mark Wahl, the principal at Fort Branch Community School. “At the middle school, it can be a little more real because of the age that they are and the actual temptations that can be a part of being a teenager. All grades have fun with the dress up days!”
At Haubstadt Community School, the 5th grade class had a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer speak to them about staying away from drugs. This was a way to promote being drug free, and it was impactful because it was an actual officer speaking to them about this topic.
Principal Nichole Alcorn loved seeing all the grades participating in the spirit week.
“All grades are great at participating in the themes,” Alcorn said. “The school culture is all about celebration, and our Elites love to have fun. It is hard to say what grade level has the most participation. We see a high involvement from each grade level.”
Red Ribbon has been around for years all over the country. It started nationally in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan and his wife. The principals overseeing the Red Ribbon weeks at their schools remember their celebrations when they were in school.
The middle schoolers go more in depth than the elementary school students about the harmful effects of drug use and how to stay away from drugs and alcohol.
“The goal of Red Ribbon week is to inspire students to be drug free,” Jourdan said. “Education is provided to middle school students on harmful effects of drugs and making overall good decisions.”
