Zama Middle High School students sign a drug-free pledge as the school kicked off its anti-drug campaign at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world. (Photo Credit: Sean Kimmons)
CAMP ZAMA, Japan – Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign here Monday with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign and has reached millions of people around the world.
Principal James Rippard, with help from students, cut ribbons during their lunch breaks inside the school’s auditorium to mark the start of the celebration.
“During Red Ribbon Week, we will learn the importance of preventing underage drinking and tobacco use,” he told the audience. “We will also discuss the dangers of misusing prescription drugs as well as the dangers of using all illegal drugs.”
The campaign began in 1985 following the murder of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent whom drug traffickers in Mexico tortured and killed earlier that year. The death sparked outrage among parents and youth across the country who began to wear red ribbons to raise awareness of the destruction drugs cause in America.
This year’s theme – “Life is a movie, film drug free” – reminds students they are directors of their own lives and that choosing to stay drug free can lead to a promising future.
Rippard said that every student has goals in life, and they should avoid harmful behaviors that prevent them from achieving them.
“I want you to be selfish in that goal and selfish in that dream and not let anything take you away from that,” he told the students. “So be selfish and say no to alcohol and say no to drugs.”
As they entered the auditorium, students received gifts and information on living drug free from tables sponsored by the Army Substance Abuse Program, or ASAP, Army Community Service, and Child and Youth Services.
One of the tables also had a large printout of the drug-free pledge, which students read and signed.
Evelyn Baulsir, a sixth grader, signed the pledge and was also one of the students to help cut the ribbon during the first lunch break.
“It’s important because if you sign it, that means you promise to be drug free for the rest of your life,” she said.
Baulsir said students should also not let their friends take drugs so they can have a bright future.
“If your friend is taking drugs, you could tell them to stop,” she said. “You wouldn’t want them to hurt themselves. It is possible that they will listen to you and stop.”
Roman Fennessey, an eighth grader, also signed the pledge and said he and other students can live a healthy lifestyle by not doing drugs, exercising and eating nutritious food.
“I think that it’s always great for people to do like what the pledge says, to be the best that they can be,” he said.
Maria Ortiz, the ASAP’s Risk Reduction Program coordinator, said a positive lifestyle can also include visiting other places.
“Traveling, for me, works,” she said. “It allows me to explore more and to know another language and culture.”
She suggested that students can even engage more in their classwork to keep them on the right path.
“If you are focused on your classes, you really don’t have time being out doing bad things,” she said. “You are really focusing on what you want to do in the future.”
Ortiz said parents can also be involved, helping their children understand the consequences of their actions.
“As a parent I allow my daughter to make her own choices based on what I teach her about what will be good or not,” she said.
The community is slated to hold other activities for youth throughout the weeklong celebration, which ends this Friday, including a fashion show at the School Age Center and a coloring contest at Arnn Elementary School.
Soldiers assigned to the 901st Military Working Dog Detachment also plan to showcase the drug interdiction skills of their dogs to Zama students on Friday.
Ortiz hopes the events will encourage youth to think more about what kind of life they want to live.
“You can definitely be your own star, but that depends on how much effort you put into it,” she said. “We really want to try to help them make good choices.”
