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After a rise in fentanyl usage and suspensions, activities director Matt Johnson wanted to create a partnership to raise awareness of the fentanyl crisis. Assistant principal Alexis Wilkerson is the lead of the project.
“[Johnson] created this partnership, just so they can get into the buildings, right? So during class time, you all can learn about just how risky it is,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson explains that there have been a large number of suspensions and the previous punishment for possession of fentanyl has been suspension. Students are also now being trained on the dangers of using this drug.
“Right now, it is a suspension, but it’s also providing some type of training to you all. So you all know about the harm that it does, the effects and the long-term effects that it has,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson compares this to previous generations and the mass amount of people who smoked cigarettes without knowing what was going to happen years down the road. People just weren’t aware so this partnership was created to give students the chance to become aware.
“So that partnership is just having someone come into the building, and providing more insight of what it is for you all to feel the impact of it and not think like, oh, there’s just something I can do for right now. And it’s not going to affect me in the long run,” Wilkerson said.
She also believes that hearing all the effects of fentanyl from an outside perspective is going to greatly affect how the message is perceived. It also allows for students who have more questions to reach out to someone who is going to be better educated on the subject.
“Also, just to hear it from [an] outside source, right. We have all these community partners, having them come in and give you all the education, and then just getting that partnership where if there’s something that you all want to discuss more, you all can reach out to them and have them come in and give you all the education behind it,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson explains that this partnership is very similar to D.A.R.E. and believes that this is going to bring that idea back into schools.
“Like you can’t think about you don’t remember like, oh, yeah, D.A.R.E. was so cool, right? When back in our day, back in my day, I will say, that was something that we did every single year,” Wilkerson said. “This awareness is kind of bringing that back into the school building.”
News trucks were brought to the school May 5 to let the community know that steps are being taken to help solve the problem and the school is using community partners to the best of their abilities.
“So they were just here just to show that, here’s what we’re doing as a full community. We’re not leaving it just to the school, but also bringing our community partners in, but also showing the parents in the rest of the community we’re taking action,” Wilkerson.
Wilkerson’s overall message about the program and the fentanyl crisis is to just stop using it. No matter how cool it looks or what others say about it, don’t use it and be aware of the consequences of using such a drug can be.
“And recently we have seen how harsh it has been instantly. So if you think about you guys are probably not saying anything, but you see your classmates and they’re in the stalls. And they’re what? Puking immediately,” Wilkerson said. “So thinking about that and showing that, we have to just stop.”
