This week (Oct. 23- Oct. 27) Ascension has been participating in the national event Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week gives students an opportunity to take a stand against making bad decisions, such as drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. The overall theme this year is “Your future is key, so stay drug free.” This week is super important because we, the youths of America, are sometimes too busy drinking and being distracted to reach our full potential. In honor of the national Red Ribbon Week, the Ascension SADD chapter planned a week full of fun events in order to help students remember not to do drugs.

We began the week by passing out red ribbons with the slogan mentioned above on them. Tuesday, in honor of being Drug FREEtos, we had the opportunity to wear crazy socks and open toed shoes as well as eat frito pie, with Coach Dardar providing the chili and Mallory Lyons’ father providing the fritos. Wednesday morning, the SADD officers handed out goldfish and Swedish fish to go along with the slogan, “It’s of-FISH-al, drugs are dumb!” On Thursday, the officers handed out bags of Honey Nut Cheerios, reminding students to BEE drug free, and hosted a Don’t Get Baked Sale. To end the week, SADD members put on their annual “Click It or Ticket” event, where they stood outside and looked for people who were not buckled up on the way to school. Airheads were passed out to the students who are buckled up and aren’t texting a driving, as a way to remind them to not be an airhead when it comes to vehicle safety.

Many teachers and students like the positive message that SADD is spreading this week, including Coach McCollough. “I’m all for saying no to drugs. I think it is a great thing y’all are doing, saying no.” He continues saying that “some of the people in Angola are just the same as y’all, they just made one bad decision. So don’t do drugs and make bad decisions.” Thanks, Coach, for comparing us to a bunch of prisoners. Junior Ella Sheets is looking forward to the Click-It Or Ticket event we do every year, saying that it is her “favorite part of the week.” The key things to take away from this fun-filled week are to bee drug free, not to be an airhead (and buckle up), and that it is of-fish-al, drugs (and alcohol and smoking and any other destructive decisions) are dumb.