Duval County Public Schools' students throughout the district participated in Red Ribbon Week October 19-23, with schools hosting activities that encouraged students to say no to drugs.
The Red Ribbon Campaign began in 1985, following the death of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena who died at the hands of drug traffickers in Mexico while fighting the battle against illegal drugs. Its mission is to present a unified and visible commitment toward the creation of a drug-free America. The campaign is now the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation, each year reaching millions of young people during Red Ribbon Week.
Schools such as Chaffee Trail Elementary and Enterprise Learning Academy hosted week-long activities that reinforced being drug free.
"Enterprise Learning Academy participates in Red Ribbon Week as a reminder to students of the importance of making positive choices in all areas with a main focus on saying "NO!" to drugs and alcohol," said organizers Danna Hall and Kayla Stroud, both kindergarten teachers.
Each school planned different events, such as wearing their shirts backwards to "Turn Their Back on Drugs," modeling cool sunglasses as they "Shaded out Drugs," joined the Drug-free Team by wearing their favorite sports uniforms and memorabilia, wore hats to "Put a Cap on Drugs," and decorated their school campuses with red ribbons and door banners.
At Chaffee Trail, students brought in hair brushes and toothbrushes in an effort to "Brush off drugs," and then donated these items to local charities. They also carved "Say No to Drugs" slogans in pumpkins and displayed them in the school's "Drugs Make Me Blue" pumpkin patch.
Chaffee students also had a visit from Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer Keith Jowers (a.k.a. Officer Friendly) who discussed saying no to drugs and alcohol, and also reviewed safety procedures such as always wearing a seatbelt in the car and helmet when bike riding, and not talking to strangers. Jowers has been a Safety Education Officer for 16 years, and provides service to 29 of the district's elementary schools.
One day during the week, Enterprise held a Red Ribbon Rally. Students dressed in red and displayed posters and banners they made to emphasize the importance of saying no to drugs. For a writing lesson, they also came up with their own say no to drugs slogan and wrote about how they would persuade someone to not use drugs.
Enterprise students also were "Raisin Cain Against Drugs" during a school-wide science experiment. For their lesson, students were given raisins (donated by Sun-Maid in California) and tried to determine why carbonated beverages made the raisins float.
For more pictures from Red Ribbon Week, visit the
DCPS' flickr Photostream.
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