{"id":315053,"date":"2024-10-29T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=315053"},"modified":"2024-10-30T14:40:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T14:40:36","slug":"camp-zama-kicks-off-red-ribbon-week-as-students-take-drug-free-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=315053","title":{"rendered":"Camp Zama kicks off Red Ribbon Week as students take drug-free pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Zama Middle High School students sign a drug-free pledge as the school kicked off its anti-drug campaign at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world.
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\n Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world.
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan \u2013 Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign here Monday with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign and has reached millions of people around the world.<\/p>\n

Principal James\u00a0Rippard, with help from students, cut ribbons during their lunch breaks inside the school\u2019s auditorium to mark the start of the celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring Red Ribbon Week, we will learn the importance of preventing underage drinking and tobacco use,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cWe will also discuss the dangers of misusing prescription drugs as well as the dangers of using all illegal drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign began in 1985 following the murder of Enrique \u201cKiki\u201d Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent whom drug traffickers in Mexico tortured and killed earlier that year. The death sparked outrage among parents and youth across the country who began to wear red ribbons to raise awareness of the destruction drugs cause in America.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme \u2013 \u201cLife is a movie, film drug free\u201d \u2013 reminds students they are directors of their own lives and that choosing to stay drug free can lead to a promising future.<\/p>\n

Rippard said that every student has goals in life, and they should avoid harmful behaviors that prevent them from achieving them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to be selfish in that goal and selfish in that dream and not let anything take you away from that,\u201d he told the students. \u201cSo be selfish and say no to alcohol and say no to drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world.
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\n Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world.
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\n Zama Middle High School kicked off its anti-drug campaign with a ribbon cutting and pledge while local organizations provided students tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world.
\n (Photo Credit: Sean Kimmons)<\/span>
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\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
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As they entered the auditorium, students received gifts and information on living drug free from tables sponsored by the Army Substance Abuse Program, or ASAP, Army Community Service, and Child and Youth Services.<\/p>\n

One of the tables also had a large printout of the drug-free pledge, which students read and signed.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Baulsir, a sixth grader, signed the pledge and was also one of the students to help cut the ribbon during the first lunch break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important because if you sign it, that means you promise to be drug free for the rest of your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Baulsir said students should also not let their friends take drugs so they can have a bright future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your friend is taking drugs, you could tell them to stop,\u201d she said. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want them to hurt themselves. It is possible that they will listen to you and stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roman Fennessey, an eighth grader, also signed the pledge and said he and other students can live a healthy lifestyle by not doing drugs, exercising and eating nutritious food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s always great for people to do like what the pledge says, to be the best that they can be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maria Ortiz, the ASAP\u2019s Risk Reduction Program coordinator, said a positive lifestyle can also include visiting other places.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraveling, for me, works,\u201d she said. \u201cIt allows me to explore more and to know another language and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested that students can even engage more in their classwork to keep them on the right path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are focused on your classes, you really don\u2019t have time being out doing bad things,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are really focusing on what you want to do in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortiz said parents can also be involved, helping their children understand the consequences of their actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent I allow my daughter to make her own choices based on what I teach her about what will be good or not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The community is slated to hold other activities for youth throughout the weeklong celebration, which ends this Friday, including a fashion show at the School Age Center and a coloring contest at Arnn Elementary School.<\/p>\n

Soldiers assigned to the 901st Military Working Dog Detachment also plan to showcase the drug interdiction skills of their dogs to Zama students on Friday.<\/p>\n

Ortiz hopes the events will encourage youth to think more about what kind of life they want to live.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can definitely be your own star, but that depends on how much effort you put into it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe really want to try to help them make good choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Army Garrison Japan news<\/a><\/p>\n

USAG Japan official website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Zama Middle High School students sign a drug-free pledge as the school kicked off its anti-drug campaign at Camp Zama, Japan, Oct. 28, 2024. Celebrated every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation\u2019s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315055,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=315053"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315061,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315053\/revisions\/315061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/315055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=315053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=315053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=315053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}