Hawks rock out drugs

HOUSTON — Houston Middle and Houston High School celebrated Red Ribbon Week the last week of October. Red Ribbon Week is dedicated to educating students toward a drug free life. For HHS and HMS students, Red Ribbon Week brought an all new presentation of drug abstinence from the Alaskan bands Static Cycle and the Dave Velasquez Band.

Band leaders hoped to project their vision of a drug free life to the 800 students who congregated in the HMS gym. The bands are dedicated to presenting information on drug use in an unbiased way using music to urge students to make the personal choice to remain drug free rather than the typical drug abstinence ideal often spoon-fed to students.

Static Cycle, fronted by Colony High grad Jared Navarre, and the Dave Velasquez Band, held together by Valley natives and brothers David and Ben Velasquez, say that they “saw too many people dying from a common enemy, which is substance abuse.” They chose to use their art as a projection of their drug free lifestyle to students around the Valley.

The presentation as a whole was well received by students and administrators alike. One HHS student was heard saying, “Every year [students] are subject to the mundane and methodical presentations and little trinkets urging us to remain drug free for all of a week. It was great to hear personal accounts of the side effects of drugs and see people from the Valley choose a drug free life.”

Marybeth Smart, Peer Helper advisor and counselor at HHS, agrees. “It was about reaching students in a more meaningful way. I do think music is more meaningful for youth.”

The National Family Partnership organized Red Ribbon Week in 1988 as a memorial to Cameron “Kiki” Camarena, an undercover special agent to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who was viciously murdered in the line of duty. Today, millions of U.S. students recognize Red Ribbon Week every year. In the Mat-Su, Nugen’s Ranch supports Red Ribbon Week for the school district’s 16,000 students. Nugen’s Ranch has been the Valley’s leading sponsor for Red Ribbon Week since its inception.

The drug free concert was sponsored by Nugen’s Ranch and the Alaska Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and initiated at the Mat-Su Coalition meeting by the Houston High School Peer Helpers: Megan Kramer, Micah Styers, Casey Rau, Dylan Webb, David Prahl, Alecia Kaer, Mariah Torres and advisor Smart.

The concert consisted of songs played by Static Cycle, a video telling the story of the Velasquez family’s own experience with substance abuse, the stories of Nugen’s Ranch rehabilitation participants and songs played by the Dave Velasquez band.

Marilena Staudenmaier is a senior at Houston High School and a member of the Peer Helpers.