{"id":34764,"date":"2013-04-13T18:39:43","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T01:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=34764"},"modified":"2013-07-23T18:17:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T01:17:31","slug":"youths-celebrate-being-drug-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/04\/13\/youths-celebrate-being-drug-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Youths celebrate being drug-free"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"More<\/a>
More than 700 local seventh graders took park in Project ALERT, and 11-week course where students learn the dangers of drugs and alcohol, as well as how to say ‘No.’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 With a dance off, karaoke and musical performance by local group \u201cTwinfamous,\u201d seventh graders at Juniper Intermediate School on Friday celebrated their commitment to staying away from alcohol and drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t try it because you\u2019re curious or your friends tell you to, walk away because it\u2019s dangerous,\u201d said seventh grader Asia Madden. \u201cYou will get addicted and you will die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s celebration marked the students\u2019 completion of a rigorous 11-week intervention course aimed at reducing underage drinking, drug use and experimentation.<\/p>\n

\"Asia<\/a>
Asia Madden (shown taking part in the dance off) said she learned how to recognize and avoid peer pressure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The course was part of the Prevention Education component of Pueblo y Salud, one of the 44 agencies funded by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department as part of a county-wide effort to reduce underage drinking and substance abuse.<\/p>\n

The course targeted about 700 seventh graders living in the 93550 zip code \u2013 the area experiencing the worst alcohol and drug-related problems in Palmdale, said Prevention Project Director Xavier Flores.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are hungry for this kind of information,\u201d Flores said. \u201cThey\u2019re coming back to us telling us, \u2018my cousin smokes, my mom and dad smoke, the people in the community that I know smoke.\u2019”<\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/a>
Brandon Deyon is given an “I Am Loved” pin from instructor Waunette Cullors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“There\u2019s a lot going on in their community and they\u2019re being exposed to it, but they\u2019re not being given the tools to understand what it is, what it can do to them, and what they can do to stay away,\u201d Flores continued.<\/p>\n

During the 11-week course, about 321 seventh graders from Juniper Intermediate School and 380 seventh graders from Desert Willow School learned about the effects of alcohol and drugs. Students were also taught skills to effectively limit their exposure to alcohol and illegal substances, said instructor Waunette Cullors.<\/p>\n

The students watched educational movies, they participated in skits and they listened to a sheriff\u2019s deputy who detailed the correlation between drugs, alcohol and crime, Cullors added.<\/p>\n

\"Project<\/a>\u201cA lot of them told their personal stories\u2026 a lot of these kids shared that they had family members that were imprisoned or in jail due to drugs and alcohol,\u201d Cullors said.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the course, each student took a pledge to remain alcohol and drug free.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that I shouldn\u2019t try it because something bad could happen even from the first time,\u201d said 12-year-old Arianna Minafee.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to walk away from it,\u201d said 12-year-old Rebbeccy Parks.<\/p>\n

Friday afternoon, a portion of the 700 program participants attended the graduation celebration at Juniper Intermediate School, where they were given certificates of completion. The students also received \u201cI Am Loved\u201d<\/em> pins, Cullors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that when someone offers them drugs and alcohol and they think about wanting to do it, they remember, I love you, your parents love you and we want the best for you, which is for you not to do it,\u201d Cullors said.<\/p>\n

Another graduation celebration will take place for Desert Willow participants next week, Cullors said.<\/p>\n

Going forward, the graduates will merge into another Pueblo y Salud program called the Youth Prevention Council, Cullors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids are going to take back their community and make a difference, cleaning up their communities from drugs and alcohol,\u201d Cullors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalmdale Elementary School District needs to understand how important this type of information is for their children,\u201d Flores said. \u201cThey must include it in their curriculum. Hopefully, we\u2019ll do this one more year and then they\u2019ll take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Pueblo y Salud, visit http:\/\/pys.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 With a dance off, karaoke and musical performance by local group \u201cTwinfamous,\u201d seventh graders at Juniper Intermediate School on Friday celebrated their commitment to staying away from alcohol and drugs. \u201cDon\u2019t try it because you\u2019re curious or your friends tell you to, walk away because it\u2019s dangerous,\u201d said seventh grader Asia Madden. \u201cYou […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}