Pubdate: Fri, 03 Nov 2006
Source: News-Review, The (Roseburg, OR)
Copyright: 2006 The News-Review
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.info
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2623
Author: Teresa Williams

LEARNING THE ELEMENTS

High school students from around douglas county gain the tools to 
fight drug abuse

Plenty of students already know the dangers of drug  use. Now some 
are learning to get their message across  on television.

Students from all over Douglas County gathered at the  fairgrounds 
Thursday to get practical advice on making  public service announcements.

Douglas County Communities Aligned to Prevent Substance  Abuse, or DC 
CAPS, organized the Youth Summit in  preparation for its fourth 
annual Truth, Lies and  Videotapes Drug Prevention PSA Challenge. 
Students make  30-second videos, which debut in April and then run on  KPIC-TV.

The students laughed as Ray Lozano, a motivational  speaker from 
southern California, told stories about  growing up and raising children.

"Inside of you there's a talent, there's an ability  that's been 
given to you that hasn't been given to the  person next to you," he said.

He encouraged the students to have a vision, be  committed to it, and 
take action.

ADAPT counselor Sam Moore gave students information  about drug use 
locally, statewide and across the  nation.

"Drug and alcohol use has become absolutely epidemic,  especially 
among young people in our country," she  said.

Moore encouraged the students to analyze the messages  they see in 
advertising, and to use the media to their  advantage.

"Our goal is to have some influence," she said.

Steve Woodward and Peter Smith of KPIC brought  commercials with them 
and showed the students how to  use lighting and angles to their advantage.

"It really refreshed my memory," Glendale senior  Juancarlos Amaya 
said. He'll be teaching a video  production class for his senior 
project this year, and  he's participating in Truth, Lies and 
Videotapes for  the fourth year.

Dennis Eberhardt of ImageStream taught students how to  market their 
videos, even without money, and create a  buzz about them.

The day ended with a panel of community members who  talked about 
their own experiences with alcohol,  tobacco and other drug 
prevention and intervention.

Ruby Latham is on Roseburg High School's prevention  team, which 
encourages middle school students to avoid  drugs. The freshman 
described Thursday's summit as a  crash course on how to make a PSA.

"We've also learned that we already know a lot about  how to prevent 
drug and alcohol use," she said. "We  know how to get things to seem 
less glamorous."

"We already know long-term effects," Roseburg High  junior Diana Kiester added.

Kiester said drug use has affected her family and  friends, and she 
said she would never do drugs because  her parents would eventually 
find out and make her life  a nightmare.

"My parents educated me early on," she said. "If I were  to do drugs, 
that would just totally mess up my  family."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine