Delaware County PRIDE youth members kicked off national Red Ribbon Week Tuesday morning at the Community Civic Center in downtown Muncie. During Red Ribbon Week, area high school students performed skits and dance routines, read poetry and essays and talked to children in elementary and middle schools about drug, alcohol and tobacco awareness.
These students are members of the Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education, an organization that encourages young people to commit to a drug-free life.
Ivionna Jones, a17-year-old junior at Muncie Central High School, met Delaware County Coordinating Council Executive Director Pat Hart at a health fair at the Horizon Conference Center. Hart recruited Jones to become a member of the PRIDE Team.
"I'm very energetic," Jones said.
She said she remembers the PRIDE Team coming to her school and thinking, "I want to do that" when she saw the teen-agers perform.
According to the group's Web site, Red Ribbon Week is a national event that began after a federal drug enforcement agent, Enrique Camarena, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1985 while doing undercover work in Mexico. Groups, frustrated and outraged by the death of Camarena, began wearing red ribbons to show "support for drug free youth and to encourage others to take a stand against drugs."
Maggie Flodder, a 16-year-old junior at Wapahani High School, opened Tuesday morning's event by singing the national anthem. This is her second year on the PRIDE Team.
Flodder said she likes talking to the elementary school students about being drug free.
"I like doing the dances, skits and stuff," Flodder said.
Ashley Moore, 16, said she likes being part of the PRIDE Team because she enjoys going to the elementary schools to talk to the children about drugs.
"They look up to you a lot," the Muncie Central junior said.
Mayor Dan Canan spoke for a few minutes about the importance of events such as Red Ribbon Week because drugs, alcohol and tobacco abuse affect the entire community and said he is impressed by the work the PRIDE students do.
"What a commitment they are making at such a young age," Canan said.
Hart awarded 15 grants on behalf of DCCC to area social service agencies. The Ball State University police department received a $900 grant to support its "When Looks Can Kill" campaign. University police officers make several presentations throughout the year using the "fatal vision goggles" to demonstrate to college students how alcohol affects coordination. DCCC awarded the grant to help purchase the fatal vision goggles.
After opening remarks and grant presentations, the PRIDE youth members performed several routines, some serious and some humorous, to more than 240 Delaware County residents, including Canan, Delaware County Sheriff Steve Aul and members of public school administration, the courts, police, social services and area businesses.
The 20-member PRIDE Team wore bright yellow and orange tie-dyed shirts and danced to the music of Pink. Melissa Couch read an essay about the grandparents that she never knew because they both died of lung cancer "from the cigarettes they started smoking when they were teenagers." Two students performed a comedy skit parody of "The Croc Hunter" Steve Irwin who was looking for a "real live Hoosier."
Jones read an essay about what it means to her to be drug free.
"The reason why I choose to be drug free is because of my future," Jones said. She is also involved in sports and knows that drugs, alcohol and tobacco would hinder her performance.
Hart said it is important to talk to children while they are in elementary school about drugs, alcohol and tobacco so they will be better equipped to handle the pressures when they go to middle and high school. The focus of Red Ribbon Week, she said, is getting the message out to elementary school children.
The Delaware County PRIDE Team is made up of students from Muncie Central, Wapahani, Muncie Burris, Delta, Cowan and Daleville high schools. --2)-¼*Fred ribbon weekDNEditorial--2SORT"+â-ä2AUDT
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