It’s that time of the year again when summer vacation comes to a close and anticipation for the school year sets in everywhere. Teachers begin attending meetings and preparing their lessons and classrooms, students are shopping for school supplies, college dorms are being prepped and cleaned and everyone is getting ready for the upcoming school year.
Here at GUIDE, we have experienced this same anticipation as we have had the opportunity of helping others in the community prepare for the return of their students this school year.
Gwinnett County Health and PE Teacher Pre-Planning Meeting
GUIDE has a long-standing partnership with the Gwinnett County Board of Education in efforts to prevent substance abuse among youth and the problems associated with it. We are grateful for the relationship we have with the school system and the role it has played in our success in reducing underage drinking over the years.
Around 400 Gwinnett County Health and PE Teachers met last week at Collins Hill High School to plan for the year ahead. GUIDE was invited to come to the meeting and provide teachers with substance abuse prevention materials. We have been hard at work putting together packets of information about underage drinking and the effects alcohol has on the teenage brain, as well as the dangers of prescription drug abuse, both serious issues facing our teens. We provided them with tools that can help prevent teen use, misuse and abuse of these substances.
With these resources, teachers know the facts and dangers of underage drinking and other drugs and can educate their students about the risks. We appreciate these teachers and their willingness to care for their students and promote positive youth development.
Thank you to our partners, CETPA and the GA Rx Drug Abuse Prevention Initiative of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs, for providing us with Rx drug abuse prevention materials. With their help, we are able to work together for safe and healthy communities.
GUIDE looks forward to future success in these efforts to prevent substance abuse in Gwinnett and across the state.
Georgia Gwinnett College Student Worker and RA Training
Georgia Gwinnett College
(GGC) is another one of GUIDE’s valuable community partners. We have worked together with them over the years to provide materials and resources, as well as share research of model programs for alcohol and other drug prevention on college campuses. GGC does a great job of promoting positive behavior to prevent and reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug use by offering its students various alternative activities during the week and at night.
We think it is great that GGC supports the community by having developed alcohol-free dorms, which will minimize the availability of alcohol. This is another way that GGC shows its commitment to student success because studies show that alcohol negatively impacts academic performance.
We continue to work with GGC to help make it a healthy and safe place for its students. Over the past couple of weeks, we have planned and conducted two trainings at GGC for some of the college’s student workers and 40 of their Resident Assistants (RAs). During the training, we educated the participants about the dangerous effects of underage and binge drinking, prescription drug abuse and marijuana use.
The student workers and RAs also discussed ways they can use the information as tools for keeping the dorm areas safe and preventing use and abuse of these substances. Now they are more aware of what to look for when it comes to drug consumption and related risky behaviors. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with these incredible young adults and, together, make a difference in our community.