Students Putting Peer Pressure to Good Use at Casa Grande Middle School

Older Students Warning Their Younger Peers About
Dangers of Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Use

CASA GRANDE — April 25, 2008 – Peer pressure can be a powerful force affecting teen and pre-teen behavior.  While it is commonly associated with bad choices resulting in negative consequences, a group of students at Casa Grande Middle School are proving it as a force that can also be used for good.

Under the watchful eyes of Principal Sylvia Trotter and Counselor Beth Russell, a hand-picked group of 14 eighth grade students are using the power of peer pressure to help educate sixth-grade students about making wise choices concerning drug, alcohol and tobacco use.

“Counselor Beth Russell has assembled a group of top students that are putting together skits and reading to our sixth-graders about the dangers of using drugs, alcohol and tobacco,” Principal Trotter said.  “They’re doing short presentations on Crystal Meth and basically giving the sixth-grade kids information about the hazards of using other drugs.”

Principal Trotter said the message is far more effective when it comes from older students – not teachers or administrators.

“The sixth-grade kids will listen to the older kids way before they’ll listen to us,” she added.  “They think that we’re old, and that we don’t know anything!”

The program was founded following a 2006 Arizona Youth Survey of Pinal County.  In the survey, the following troubling statistics were discovered:

• Nearly 50-percent of eighth-grade students perceived drugs as being widely available
• Nearly 60-percent of the survey respondents said they had friends who used drugs
• More than 40-percent of the students said they had an intention to use drugs
• In addition, roughly 60-percent of the students reported they had used alcohol and almost 40-percent reported using cigarettes.

In light of these statistics, the student group, known as the “Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Awareness Team,” aimed to present at least nine life-impacting lessons to the 250 sixth-graders on campus by the end of the 2007-08 school year.  The presentations combine hands-on activities such as the use of drunk-vision goggles with knowledge-based games and informational sessions.

Team members emphasize their message about making good choices by wearing T-shirts stating, “Your Life, Your Choice.  Know the truth about drugs, alcohol and tobacco.”

Principal Trotter and Russell plan to continue the program next year, and would like it to eventually expand it to reach students at the fourth and fifth-grade levels.