Pubdate: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 Source: Thomaston Express (CT) Contact: The Thomaston Express 2004 Website: http://www.ThomastonExpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3557 Author: Samantha M. Friedrich Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Red+Ribbon (Red Ribbon Week) STUDENTS PLEDGE DRUG-FREE LIFE FOR RED RIBBON WEEK THOMASTON - Red Ribbon Week is a time for gratitude for all the lives that remain drug free, a time to pledge to live a safe and drug-free life, and a time to remember those lost in the fight against drugs. School social worker, Elizabeth Tanner helped organize Red Ribbon Week at the Thomaston schools, to get all students involved and educated. On Monday, the Black Rock School elementary students wore red clothes and red ribbons reading "I've got better things to do than drugs," symbolizing their pledge to live a drug-free life. The ribbons, which they wore all week, were signed by each student and will be collected at the end of the week and sent to Washington, D.C. where all the ribbons received nationally, will be used to create a large ribbon which will be displayed at the White House in proclamation of a drug-free life and a symbol of unity and concern for others. On Wednesday, BRS students were invited to bring in their favorite stuffed animal to school, to promote "Hugs, Not Drugs, Day." Each class dedicated an art project to Red Ribbon Week: pre-kindergartners made paper feet with the theme "Take a Stand on Drugs;" kindergarten students made hand prints stating, "Hand in Hand Let's Take a Stand;" first graders designed Red Ribbon Week banners to hang in the school; and second and third grade students decorated red paper "bricks" and lined them up in the hallway of the school symbolizing the building of a wall to block drugs out of their lives. At Thomaston Center School the students took a symbolic walk around TCS on Monday afternoon to declare it a drug-free zone. At a ceremony sixth graders read poems and essays, and the fourth and fifth graders brought banners with anti-drug messages on them. Students at TCS also wore ribbons and red clothing on Monday. On Tuesday, students created pledges on pledge bricks that are displayed in the school as a wall to "Block Drugs from Our Lives." Each morning, a few pledge bricks were drawn from the wall, and those pledges were read aloud on the announcements. Students were also given the opportunity to sign a school-wide pledge on the bulletin board next to the front door. The history of Red Ribbon Week began in 1985, when Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar was killed by drug traffickers in Mexico. Angered by his death and the damaging effects of drugs on our culture, people of Camarena's hometown began wearing red ribbons in his honor. The tradition spread, and in 1988 Congress proclaimed the last full week in October as Red Ribbon Week. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek