West Rockingham Elementary third grader Jenna Russell made a promise she hopes to keep at the school’s Red Ribbon Week assembly Friday afternoon.

“I am going to be a drug-free person,” she said.

Throughout the week, students at West Rockingham and other schools in the county participated in activities designed to teach them about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Friday was “Put A Cap on Drugs” Day at West Rockingham, which had students wear a hat to declare they will steer clear of substances and strong drink.

Others days during the week included “Band Against Drugs,” where students wore a headband, and “Shade Out Drugs!,” when students wore sunglasses.

Russell was wearing a gray tweed hat with pink pinstripes.

“I learned that drugs are very dangerous,” she said of the week’s activities. “Almost every day someone dies of drugs and alcohol. I want to help people who already started doing them stop.”

Second grader Tre’shawn Robinson wore a conductor’s hat with Thomas the Train on it.

“I am never going to do drugs,” he said. “Or smoking cigarettes. We learned that it’s very dangerous because they put stuff in the cigarettes that gets in your lungs and gives you cancer.”

Third grader Austin Smith wore a crown and also made a pledge to grow up and be “a drug-free veterinarian.”

“I knew alcohol could make you do bad things, but I didn’t realize it could hurt you like that,” Smith said.

“I think elementary school is the most important time to reach them with this message,” West Rockingham Guidance Counselor Meghann Barberousse said. “This catches them before they’re really exposed to all those things, and it prepares them for when they are offered drugs or alcohol, so they know ahead of time what they’re going to do and say, and that they’re not going to do this.”

She called Red Ribbon Week “an opportunity to equip them with the knowledge and information so they can make the right choice - which is to stay drug-free.”

Barberousse also described the school’s participation as “great.”

“Everybody didn’t participate everyday, but I don’t think there was one person among the students, teachers and staff that didn’t participate at least one day,” she said.

The elementary students also received visits from the Rockingham Police Department and four members of the Richmond Senior High School’s International Drug Free Youth, or IDFY, Club.

“I’m a member of the varsity girl’s soccer team, and I’m second in my class, but I couldn’t do it if I wasn’t drug-free,” RSHS Senior Chelsea Adams told the children.

She explained there are about 60 people in the high school club, and they participate in community events by handing out literature and talking with youth about saying no to drugs.

“I resist it 100 percent,” Adams said of the temptation to experiment with drugs and alcohol. “I have lost almost all of my friends from junior high over drug use, and if I’d stayed with that crowd, I probably wouldn’t be graduating.”

She explained younger people “are more susceptible to addiction,” pointing out that 90 percent of smokers became addicted before the age of 18.

For Adams, her older brother Cody’s abstinence from substances set a positive example, she said.

“It’s especially important to stay drug- and alcohol-free if you have younger siblings, because they really do look up to you,” Adams said. “I know, I try to be an inspiration for my younger sister Caitlyn.”

Other members of the club at the assembly were RSHS seniors Ivette Torres, Yazmahn Wall and Elyssa Rivera.

They asked students questions and gave out prizes for the right answers.

Rockingham K-9 Unit Police Officer G.A. Harris brought the canine cop Breston to meet with the students at the assembly.

He said Breston’s main assignments at the police department are to track criminals and to sniff out narcotics.

“If we can teach the kids now when they’re young, hopefully we can deter them from doing it when they get older,” Harris said.

For West Rockingham Principal William Kelly, now is the time to teach his students what they’re getting into if they start doing drugs and alcohol.

“This is the best time to reach them in their minds and their hearts,” Kelly said. “They won’t hear it and receive it as well as they do now again in their lives.”

He said many of the students have been exposed to some type of abuse of drugs and alcohol outside of school.

“They know what it is, and they know that it’s wrong,” Kelly said. “I really believe these kids know the difference between right and wrong.”

Richmond County Schools Superintendent Dr. George Norris was also on-hand at West Rockingham Friday.

“We just feel like this Red Ribbon campaign gives us an opportunity to focus on our drug education every year, and I absolutely feel it’s important to reach these kids early before they’ve had a chance to get involved with and experience drugs,” he said. “We’re hoping we can raise a generation of kids that won’t have these addictions, that won’t smoke, won’t drink and won’t be involved with any kind of narcotic drugs.”

Winners from an essay contest sponsored at the school among third graders were first place, Brice Billingsley, second place Brian White and third place Jessica Tarlton.

Fourth grade winners were first place Jaquan Parker, second place Courtney Quick and third place Yash Patel.

The poster contest winner was pre-kindergarten student Caleb Hinson.

Finally, Amy Deberry and Angel Legrande’s second grade class was recognized for best door decorations for the week, and so was Melanie McLaurin’s fourth grade class.

n Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.