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Seeing Red
From staff reports
The Weekly Post
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Published October 29, 2009
Last Tuesday, Geraldine elementary students got to enjoy a Red Ribbon Week pep rally, thanks to the school's Focus group, composed of juniors and seniors.
Linda Bouldin, the group's sponsor, introduced the pep rally, then allowed students to come forward and speak.
Destiny Jones (student body president), Ashley Morgan (homecoming queen), volleyball players Maura Owens and Bethany Puckett, baseball players Carlos Benitez, Zac Abernathy, and Tray Gilbert, footballers Zeb Martin, Lucas Jolley, and Matthew Barrett, softball players Ali Duke and Casi White, as well as basketball players Matthew Cole and Jake Richey, all took turns speaking to the elementary students about the dangers of drugs.
The young students were also treated to displays of dancing and tumbling by the fifth- and sixth-grade tumble and dance teams.
The varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders led anti-drug cheers.
At the end, there was a cheer contest between grades.
That evening, the school held a parental involvement night.
The school's Focus group meets once a month to formulate that month's plan of action.
"We meet with the kids every Thursday," said senior Stephanie Andrews, in her second year of Focus. "We have one topic per month — drugs, smoking, the flu, whatever topic we have for the month."
Junior Lucas Jolley, in his first year, said that he joined to be "able to spend time with the younger students. I really enjoy it and hope we're getting through to them on some of these issues."
The Focus Program is a student-led approach to promote school and community partnerships in raising awareness for AIDS, drug abuse, and other risks facing today's youth.
The program, which is now in use across the state, is supported by the Alabama State Department of Education, Governor’s Commission on AIDS, community based organizations, and local education associations.
It is open to juniors and seniors.
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