by Maya Mukherjee
Red Ribbon Week, a bullying and substance abuse prevention program that’s aimed towards the youth, is right around the corner!
Red Ribbon Week highlights the importance of living a drug-free life to students. This idea is executed by a series of activities that helps the community engage in intriguing ways to live substance and bully free. This event will take place at Pine Island Academy Oct. 17-Oct. 20.
“It really promotes student awareness,” Seventh Grade School Counselor, Julie Leblanc, stated. “I think that it’s really important to teach students those skills, to talk about it, because knowledge is power. If they don’t know what to do, or how to say no, and practice that, and have conversations about that, then when they’re in the moment it’s going to be more difficult for them to say no,” Leblanc elaborated.
There are various activities, or “Spirit Days,” that are involved to make this moral more enticing for students. These include the option of wearing neon and purple, crazy sock and shoe day and dressing like a rockstar. These activities were all planned by Guidance Counselors Sonia Joker, Jennifer Landorf and Leblanc.
“Part of the reason we do the ‘Spirit Days’ is to bring unity within the school and to connect the students to each other; To show that even though we’re all different, so we come in with maybe different styles for the day, we all come dressed in whatever that theme is,” Grades Four-Six Guidance Counselor, Landorf, explained. “We can come together, support each other and have fun,” Landorf added.
Not only does this event affect students, but it also impacts faculty, as they know that the ideas they are teaching students will have a lasting impression on them.
“I always, of course, want my impact to be positive, so remembering not only the message, but enjoying the time with the students, is really important,” Eighth Grade Counselor, Joker, expressed.
Principal of PIA, Amanda Riedl, agrees that this program helps inform students of the dangers of substance use. She has also conveyed that Red Ribbon Week overall allows the school community to thrive while this message is grasped through bonding experiences with students and faculty.
“So really, Red Ribbon Week is character building, being drug-free, unity, making healthy choices and then that kindness throughout our school community, between both students and faculty,” Riedl affirmed.