John Caswell

Staff reporter

Red Ribbon Week occurs Oct. 25-29 and is devoted to showing teenagers the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
During the week the Red Ribbon Committee, made up of students from all grades, will work to show students  the consequences of drug and alcohol usage  through various activities. The selected activities for the week aim to do this in a fun way, while still showing how dangerous drugs are.
One example of an activity  showing the dangers of alcohol is the fatal vision test drive. During this activity students will take a set of goggles and decorate them in a way that renders them unusable. The student will then drive around the gym on a tricycle. The first time the students will drive regularly, the second they will have the goggles on. With the goggles on it will be similar to driving while under the influence of alcohol, thus showing students why drunk driving is dangerous.
“We hope maybe students will remember this if they are ever in a situation where alcohol is present,” said senior Payton Rice,  president of the Red Ribbon Week Committee.
Local organizations and groups are a key part of the event, and have donated pumpkins, television sets and everything in between. The pumpkins were supplied by Huber’s for a pumpkin decorating contest,  the decorated pumpkins are then used to scare away drugs. The televisions are used in prize baskets which feature a wide variety of prizes, such as electronics, gas cards, and gift cards. These prizes will go to the winners of a drawing that anyone can enter.
“Basically, we have something for everybody,” said Rice.
Other activities throughout the week include an after school, movie showing, scavenger hunt, and a door decorating contest where the winners prize is a pizza party. One of the more somber events though is the visit from the grim reaper. During one school day a bell will go off every 30 minutes. Every time it does the Grim Reaper will go to a student and mark them as dead. That student is not allowed to speak for the remainder of the day. This activity is supposed to show how many Americans die to drunk driving every year.
“Something like one person dies every 30 seconds in the U.S. because of drunk driving. If you reduce that down to the population of the school, you get one person every 30 minutes. This makes drunk driving appear more real to students,” said Rice.
Rice said all students are welcome to participate later this month; it is a free and fun way to remember that drugs and alcohol are a danger to everyone.