Straight Up Ventura County, a local advocacy program, is teaming up with local young people to bring awareness to Red Ribbon Week, an alcohol, drug, and violence prevention campaign observed this week in the United States. Many County schools will be participating with their own events.
Several Straight Up youth and young adult volunteers coordinated a “Red Ribbon” photo shoot in Ventura recently, posing with red ribbons to show their concern about issues that are problems among young people, including alcohol, drug and tobacco use. These photos will be used in a social marketing campaign in October, to highlight local involvement in Red Ribbon Week.
To see the pictures from the photo shoot click here
“We want to bring attention to this important week, and to some of the great peer-to-peer prevention outreach happening on school campuses around the County,” says Katherine Kasmir, Straight Up’s Program Director.
A HIGHLIGHT OF HIGH SCHOOL EVENTS PLANNED
Adolfo Camarillo High School Red Ribbon Week, October 22-26
- Monday -- Safe Kids training, suicide awareness training. Training provided by Ventura County of Education
- Tuesday -- Speaker: Jeff Lane, positive decision making and sharing his story and consequences of choices
- Wednesday -- Speaker: Tony Pedaferri, former CHP officer Tony shares his story of accident in 2009 as victim and also consequences of driving under influence and his story is poignant (Tony just recently returned from London and the paraplegic Olympics)
- Thursday -- Speaker: panel of former ACHS students and their personal storie. Nic Pendleton will be one of our guests
- Friday -- Speaker: Kevin Brooks
Considering most addicts start using between the ages of eleven and fourteen, this is a crucial time to impress the dangers of drug use on teens. At Las Colinas Red Ribbon Week includes educating students on the risks of substance use, class discussions about how choosing to use substances can change one's potential, a parent education night, pledging to be drug-free, and a school-wide assembly. For more information please visit their Red Ribbon Website HERE.
Pacific High School (Oxnard) Red Ribbon Week, October 29 - November 2
- Monday -- Door poster contest
- Tuesday -- DUI trailer; drunk googles demonstration; tobacco and drug awareness activities
- Wednesday -- Day of the Dead/Every 15 minutes event
- Thursday -- Wear Red day
Santa Paula High School Red Ribbon Activitiy
- The school's Friday Night Live organization will host a table at lunch where students can “Pledge to be Drug Free” for the year. They sign a pledge and receive a RRW goodie. The pledges are then displayed on campus for around a month.
Other schools around the County that have celebrated their Red Ribbon weeks are:
Buena High School (Ventura) Red Ribbon Week, October 15-19
- Advanced Drama students wrote three skits that deal with drinking, drug use and smoking. They will be performed through the week. During the course of the week, over 750 students will attend the performances. The skits are informative and promote a positive lifestyle and warn against the pitfalls of alcohol, tobacco and drug use
Foothill Technology High School (Ventura) Red Ribbon Week, October 15-19
- Monday -- ASB will be handing out wristbands to all students
- Tuesday -- Campus officer Tony Gomez will be in the quad with “Drunk Goggles” to allow students to see how visually impaired they would be under the influence
- Wednesday -- Students wear red to show school spirit
- Friday -- Students who have kept the red wristbands on all week receive a treat. Campus officer Tony Gomez will be in the front of the school with a DUI crash trailer to show students a vehicle that was in an accident that resulted in a death earlier this year.
