Red Ribbon Week Both Educational & Fun for Wildcats

Dress down days, daily trivia, Kahoots and bingo. Plus lots and lots of red. For Saluda Trail this means Red Ribbon Week has finally arrived.

According to redribbon.org, Red Ribbon week dates back to 1985 when DEA Agent Kiki Camarena was murdered by Mexican drug traffickers. His family and friends then started wearing red ribbons in his honor and the movement rapidly spread across the country. The first national red ribbon week took place in 1988. Since then millions of families have participated in red ribbon week. Saluda Trail and many  other schools view this as an opportunity to educate students on the dangers of substance abuse.

To a lot of students Red Ribbon week means getting to dress down and be free of our uniforms. When asked if he liked red ribbon week and if so why STMS 6th grader Kade Mcallister said, “Yeah because there is freedom you don’t have to be a 100 percent uniform.”

Through out the week, the counselors planned several opportunities for students to either dress down or wear different gear related to different themes.

On Monday students and faculty wore orange or red shirts to show they were proud to be

Students wore crazy socks on Wednesday. They showed they were drug free from head to toe.

drug free. Tuesday students were given the option to wear athletic or team sports wear. On Wednesday the halls were full of crazy hats and socks. Thursdays theme was peace out to drugs and their was tie dye as far as the eye could see. The grand finale on Friday was a dress down day if you donated two dollars to Keystone, a local substance abuse program.

Miss. McCoy the 7th grade counselor shed some light on what exactly goes into planning red ribbon week, “We try not to repeat days from last year. We also plan activities during lunch and talk with officer Malicki about other possible events.” The STMS counselors said they spend many hours deciding on the details so that the students of STMS can have a meaningful and enjoyable red ribbon week.

That’s not all, students have also been able to participate in trivia and games.

Students participated in trivia and bingo as a part of Red Ribbon Week Activities. Not only did they learn more about drugs and substance abuse, they also had an opportunity to earn prizes.

Our guidance counselors have done everything from morning trivia to Blookets and bingo too. For Friday the guidance counselors  planned a special event during lunch. The Drug Dogs from the Rock Hill police department will pay the students of STMS a special visit with their handlers. Miss. Johnson, the 8th grade counselor, stated that in the past, activities have included door decorating contests, poster contests, and essay contests. This year’s activities have also come with prizes! Winners could choose from bracelets, cups and candy. Even students who participated in the Blookets and Kahoots but didn’t win walked away with two wildcat tickets.

Students were thankful for the opportunity  to participate in Red Ribbon Week activities.  They were appreciative of the guidance counselors who put so much effort and hard work into making sure the students of Saluda Trail Middle School had an amazing red ribbon week and stay drug free. Hannah Watts, a 7th grade student, wanted to give a special thanks to the three guidance counselors  – Miss Johnson, Miss.McCoy, and Miss.Hardy-Holmes Wilson. “Thank you for putting in all of your hard work and dedication, ”  Hannah said.

For more information on red ribbon week go to:
https://www.redribbon.org/

To learn more about Keystone and what it does for our local community go to:
https://keystoneyork.org/

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One Response to “Red Ribbon Week Both Educational & Fun for Wildcats”

  1. Jennifer Miller says:

    This is an amazing piece of journalism! My 5th graders have published several class newspapers. I shared this article with my 5th graders as an exemplar to use as a model for future articles! Excellent work by Grace Yearta!

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