From June 16, 2010 People have approached me and asked
what happened to PROUD. For those of you unfamiliar with this, I was the
co-chair of a wonderful community coalition, Stevenson Community PROUD (People
Rallying to Oppose Underage Drinking) for several years. It was born out of
concern for our youth after several students in a neighboring community died as
a result of underage drinking. We did not want our community suffer a similar
fate. This coalition, made up of high school students, parents, educators, and
community leaders worked together to educate the community on the dangers of
underage drinking. Four short years after its introduction, PROUD was disbanded. To all those actively
involved, it was a sad time. We had worked together for four years and truly
made an impact in our community. With guidance from the Lake County Lake County Underage
Drinking Prevention Task Force, we worked to redefine the social norm around
underage drinking in our community. We organized a
parent folder to hand out during Stevenson’s parent open house, containing
wonderful materials on the statistics of underage drinking in the north suburbs
as well as educational handouts on the effects of alcohol on the developing
brain. We collaborated with several other communities, Deerfield and Lake
Forest/Lake Bluff, to share information and resources. We held 18 parent
coffees where we shared concerns, stories, and strategies. And we helped the
students find their voices – that being alcohol-free was a good norm to strive
for. Five Stevenson seniors, who worked side by side with us from the beginning
of PROUD in their sophomore year, earned Prominent Patriot awards prior to
their graduation. This recognition of honor and distinction from their high
school confirmed that healthy choices lead to positive rewards. I’m sure all those reading this are asking themselves, “So why disband?”
In the Stevenson High School district, which is fed by more than five junior
high schools, we have roughly 4500 students. Considering each family has, on average,
two children, those students represent about 2250 families. While many parents
applauded the work of PROUD, very few attended meetings. The work of PROUD was
carried out by a very small group of highly dedicated people, and the
volunteers who began the coalition lost their energy over time. Some had
children who graduated the halls of high school and had moved on. Some
community leaders found the lack of attendance concerning, and shifted their
energy to other causes. The students who had begun this mission moved on to
college, and it was difficult to bring new ones on board when the adult leadership
was dwindling simultaneously. But the message of the coalition still remains an
important one today, as I hear more and more stories of students as young as 12
years old drinking and mass arrests by our local police force of underage
drinking parties and their host parents. With the increased use of cell phones
by students, parents are communicating with each other less and less, and teens
are empowered to embark on risky behavior without consequence. So, to those parents who have been asking about PROUD, look to other community groups that you can get involved with to address the concerns you have collectively! With the summer upon us, it is my hope that parents will find support
and guidance to help their children live substance-free lives. If PROUD
couldn’t rally physical support at meetings, perhaps in the virtual world of
blogging, facebook, or twitter, we can create such a buzz about prevention that
the mission of PROUD can live on, and therefore, so will our children. |