Pubdate: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 Source: Daily Reflector (Greenville, NC) Copyright: 2006 Daily Reflector Contact: http://www.reflector.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1456 Author: Jennifer White, The Daily Reflector Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) SPEAKER PUSHES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AMONG STUDENTS Youth can take responsibility for their lives by controlling their attitudes, monitoring their words and staying involved in school, motivational speaker Michael Walden said Wednesday at E.B. Aycock Middle School. The Pitt County Substance Abuse Coalition is sponsoring Walden, a retired Army staff sergeant, to give 17 presentations this week. He will present a free program on "Dreams or Drugs" to the community Friday from 7-9:30 p.m. at D.H. Conley High School. Walden began his "Attitude is Everything" motivational program seven years ago. He tours by bus across North America, speaking to more than 100,000 students a year. When he is not speaking, Walden rescues young people from drug houses and looks for runaways. "This is ministry for me, but I don't come to preach at the kids," Walden said. "I'm hoping that through my message, if a kid is kind of failing, or hanging out with the wrong crowd, I'm really hoping that they say, 'You know what? I need to make a change.'" Besides Aycock, Walden is speaking to middle school students at Grifton School, Farmville Middle, Bethel School, Ayden Middle and C.M. Eppes Middle. Topics include being the best you can be, winning respect, attitude is everything, and drugs and gangs. Walden said that all his messages can be summed up in one word: Attitude. "I believe attitude is everything," he said. "No matter what you do, you have to have a winning attitude." Delilah Jackson, Aycock's principal, said that Walden's advice about self-esteem, having dreams and staying away from drugs "are the types of things that middle school students need to hear." "I think it will have a huge impact," she said. "I noticed that he captivated the students, and his message is real because he's experienced it. I think sometimes they need to hear from someone outside of the school about the things that we're teaching them every day." The main event Friday is "so that we can get the community and families on board with how do we help our children achieve their dreams," Renee Willis, coalition executive director, said. She said the program will give families ideas on broaching the subject of drugs and alcohol. The program will also include performances by the North Pitt High School show choir, the Ayden-Grifton High School musical theater and dance department and the D.H. Conley honors dancers. Door prizes, including hammocks, gift certificates and school supplies, will be given away. Refreshments will be provided by Chick-fil-A and Pitt County Schools' child nutrition services. "Our purpose behind this is how do we get school personnel, parents and youth conversing with each other about making healthy choices," Willis said. "We need to engage in conversations with our children and for our children on their behalf. Our kids are making great choices, and a lot of times they're not affirmed for that." Willis said that four out of 10 middle schoolers have had a full alcoholic drink. While those numbers might surprise some, Willis said that students she talked to thought the incidents were much higher. "They figured it was at least six to eight kids per 10," she said. "It's our role as media and parents and teachers to help change the perceptions and encourage them to feel more comfortable about feeling affirmed." [sidebar] SURVEY RESULTS The Pitt County Substance Abuse Coalition administers the Risk Behavior Survey to middle and high school students every other year. The survey was last administered during April and May 2005 to 2,093 middle school students taking health or physical education and 3,972 high school students. Survey respondents did not include students suspended or expelled at the time of administration or who had dropped out of school - the most at risk youth. Middle School 24 percent have smoked a whole cigarette 14 percent smoked within 30 days prior to taking the survey 39 percent have had a drink containing alcohol 17 percent consumed alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey 17 percent have tried marijuana 10 percent used marijuana within 30 days prior to taking the survey High School 39 percent have smoked a whole cigarette 21 percent smoked within 30 days prior to taking the survey 61 percent have had a drink containing alcohol 35 percent consumed alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey 41 percent have tried marijuana 22 percent used marijuana within 30 days prior to taking the survey Pitt County eighth-graders reported that within 30 days prior to taking the survey: 1 in 5 smoked cigarettes 1 in 4 drank alcohol 1 in 6 used marijuana Pitt County 12th-graders reported that within 30 days prior to taking the survey: 1 in 4 smoked cigarettes 1 in 2 drank alcohol 1 in 4 used marijuana The National Monitoring the Future survey reported that among the eighth-graders who drank alcohol within 30 days prior to taking the survey, half of those were binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake