From the time you were in kindergarten till now you remember Red Ribbon Week and all of the activities that came along with it. This is an annual thing for most people, but have you ever really looked into the depth of Red Ribbon Week? As I sat down with GYC, who is in charge of this whole week, I was shocked to learn that this week is about more than what we see.

We all know that Red Ribbon Week is about helping students to stay drug free. As a student I can’t count how many assemblies or guest speakers have taught us that drugs are not a good thing. This has been pounded into our heads in the typical way that most people present this message. All I can remember is how scared all the power points, videos, and stories have made me. All that we have ever heard is about all the bad things that will happen to us if we do drugs. The GYC committee wants to avoid scaring us. In fact they are going about this in a completely different way.

I interviewed 3 of GYC’s district representatives, Ariel Ferre (junior), Lexie Garvin (junior), and Jake Parslow (sophomore), and asked them what they wanted students to take from this week. Their answers were not what I expected. Lexie Garvin explained to me that this week wasn’t meant to be a scare tactic. She said that in the past people have tried to scare students into not taking drugs, they have tried to steer clear of that and have this week be more about celebrating the positive outcomes of not doing drugs. Statistics show that by using a scare method to get people to do something is less effective as celebrating the good things to come from not doing that thing. Ariel and Jake both agreed and knew that when they were planning this week they needed to be encouraging and fun rather than scary, they have found this to be effective.

As they have continued this tradition of positivity they have found that there is a lot more participation than when it was a scaring tactic. At the end of the week they always have a poster that people sign. By signing this poster these students are pledging to be drug free. Most of the students last year signed this poster with the saying “I Pledge to be Drug Free”. There has been a lot of work put into this week and it’s truly amazing what they have come up with. As you go on with many years of Red Ribbon Week to come, remember to celebrate the positivity of being and staying drug free.