CCS Students Celebrate Red Ribbon Week with Poetry and Decorated Door Contests
by Jamilah Vogel,
December 2, 2010, page 6.....
With poems by Noa Urbaitel, Hannah Bernier and Matthew Silverman

Red Ribbon Week (RRW) is the largest and longest running National Substance Abuse Prevention Awareness Campaign. All over the nation people wear red ribbons and get involved in activities to recognize and prevent the struggle so many go through when they become addicted to substances like tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. This campaign began in memory of Kiki Camarena, an officer who gave his life in the fight against drugs. He was dedicated to keeping kids safe and to making a difference in his world.
This can be a fun opportunity to celebrate and encourage students to commit to a substance-free life style. At Charlotte Central School we celebrated on the week of November 8-12 with a variety of activities, including door decorating and poetry writing contests. Research finds that delaying onset (time of first use/experimentation) is a primary goal of any successful prevention program. Celebrating RRW at the middle-school level is intended to work toward this goal.

The theme at CCS this year was “OUTSTANDING, stand out and stand up.”

Jamilah Vogel is the Student Assistance Professional at CCS. She administrates prevention activities including Red Ribbon Week, prevention education
classes and individual and small group prevention with students through
CY - Connecting Youth, the CSSU District Prevention Coalition. 
For information visit the CY website at seewhy.org.

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The winning door was designed and decorated by Mrs. Tierney's support group. It was entitled "if you aren't holding the strings, who is?"

Below are three poems that won recognition in the poetry contest.

Stand Up For Yourself
by Noa Urbaitel, grade 8
Omega Winner

My world turns fast
It is splayed across the pages of life
Living
Breathing
Loving
The other kids
Their worlds turn slowly
It fits in a neat, tidy, fatal box
Injecting poisons and smoke into their bodies
Slowly killing themselves
One day at a time
Unfocused
Tunes out
Not paying attention to their lives
I used to know a few of them
They were my friends
And we made pacts
To never go down this path
Now they’re barely human
Drug-induced zombies
Walking down the halls
As they tumble over themselves
To forget everything they stood for
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Be Yourself
Hannah Bernier, grade 6
Alpha Winner

Sing like yourself
Dance like yourself
Live like yourself
Be yourself
Not someone else
Be the real you
Don’t have your personality
Locked up inside,
Let
It out and have fun.
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A Red Ribbon Week Poem
Matthew Silverman, grade 5
Honorable Mention

People have faith
because it is natural.
We stand up
because it is natural.
We sit down
because it is natural
We stand up for others
because it is better than natural.