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Red Ribbon Month continues in Greenville ISD this week, and students at one district campus have spent the better part of the past few days with their minds occupied on things “above”.
Greenville ISD students are spending the month learning about drug awareness and the positive implications of a drug-free lifestyle. And students at the Greenville Sixth Grade Center have been working to lift up Red Ribbon Month in a very imaginative way. They have spent the past few weeks preparing for the school’s annual Red Ribbon Kite Fly, set for this Friday.
The Kite Fly is spearheaded by Drug Free Greenville and is one of the signature events of Red Ribbon Week in Greenville’s public schools. Students have decorated kites with drug prevention messages and artwork and will fly them with community volunteers. The event is based on teaching students all the things they could be doing other than drugs.
But Friday’s community event – which will feature hundreds of kites in the air next to the Stanford Street campus – is much more than just an art project or an excuse to get a kite in the air on what organizers hope will be a beautiful, sunny day. It’s about involving the whole campus with one primary message: that there are better things to do than drugs.
“I think that this is a reminder,” said Kelly Jones, the school’s counselor. “It’s a reminder that there are better things for the kids to do than drugs, which could take away everything from them.”
As in past years, organizers took steps to ensure that the campus is involved in the Kite Fly in just about every way possible. Students sharpened their their letter-writing skills by inviting members of the community to join in the fun.
Drug Free volunteers and school leaders go to great lengths to make sure that local students – public or private, elementary or secondary – are involved in Red Ribbon month.
The movement to celebrate Red Ribbon week locally started with a group of Greenville students. In 1990, a group of GHS students attended a summertime student council involving councils from other high schools. They returned to Greenville aware of the national Red Ribbon Campaign and asked Drug Free Greenville to assist them in planning events to carry the message to the Greenville community.
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