When students think of reasons to attend school (besides being buried in books), they have to think of events like Red Ribbon Week. In case you were not aware of the origins of Red Ribbon Week, it is an event that schools across the U.S. engage in. Red Ribbon Week is the remembrance of a murder victim by drug traffickers in the 1980s. In honor of the victim, students, staff, and different people participating use red ribbons, clothing, and accessories to honor that individual.

With that being said, the October 4-8 event included the combined efforts of students and staff to help slow the problem of drugs. Not only drugs users and addicts but also non-users who are victims of abuse from users.

The reason drugs are such an important topic to speak about is because drugs are terrible to get involved in, but also because students and teachers are all susceptible to them.

When you think about it, students growing up gain habits from situations like peer pressure. They hang out with a particular clique of students, they believe an idea is cool, and you want to appear cool as well, so why not try what they are doing? Unfortunately, that’s not always the smartest choice. These choices could be anything from how style is, different slang talk and expressions, but worst case scenario it can be is an introduction to drugs. That is just a brief list of the endless outcomes of something as simple as peer pressure.

Honestly, it all boils down to how your mentors and those above you handle these situations. Are schools and even different famous people taking advantage of the power they have by speaking about these topics, or are they shying away from these situations?

When asked about how Red Ribbon week is effective, or even how they viewed the week, a couple of different people have spoken about it. One of those people was senior Cezhon Gayton, who said, “I really like participating in Red Ribbon Week because of the fact I’m paying homage to the horrible incident and also to just spreading awareness and hopefully helping people wake up and realize the whole thing is real.”

Another example of great spirit was shown by senior America Rodriguez who said, “I was honestly really glad to see that all around school there were posters, people showing appreciation by participating in spirit days and just positive vibes all around during this week. It was especially a relief to see people participating in the ‘bring anything but a backpack day’ because that gave kids a chance to just be free and express their creativity.”

Lastly, senior Jordyn Gapol stated, “I feel like having this week helped with students and those that struggle with both the temptation and addiction. It was basically a relief week and it just had positive energy.”

It was great to see peers enjoy participating in this national week of spirit. But to those that are struggling, there’s school administration and officials that can help get you through your own temptations.