Lifeways-Lifeways Elementary School Prevention
I was attending a football game for my son in October 2024. All of the sudden I hear a few voices yelling “Mrs. Ames!” I turn around and see 5 middle school aged boys running towards me, waving their hands and smiling. These students are currently in 6th grade at West Middle School, and I taught them the Too Good for Drugs program as 4th and 5th graders at Black Hawk Elementary. They are the first group of students I had as both 4th and 5th graders since starting the TGFD programming at the elementary level. After they approached me, we began catching up on life and how middle school was going for them. They began sharing how middle school is fun, but more difficult than elementary school. Out of nowhere, one student blurted out “And guess what, Mrs. Ames? We don’t do drugs!” They all started chiming in about not using substances in middle school although they know some students are using substances, especially vaping. And just as fast as they came to talk to me, they said their goodbyes and were off on their next adventure at the football game. 🙂 This was inspiring to me because although I only had these students for a very short period of time in their elementary years, the relationship built with these students left enough of a mark that they were excited to share with me about their lives. And they were excited to share with me about the healthy choices they are making. It’s exciting to see how students who have had prevention at the elementary level are retaining the knowledge, skills and tools to make healthy choices for themselves. I know these students have many years ahead of them to grow and mature and will come across challenges and obstacles in their lives and have to make tough decisions. But what we do today matters. Prevention works! We always talk about planting seeds and hope someday those seeds will grow, and we may never know if they do. But on that day at the football game, I caught a glimmer of hope and understand now that when we talk, they listen. 🙂