UPLIFT students make PSAs with anti-drug message

Kennedy Voss, a student from UPLIFT, awaits her turn in front of the green screen during which she'll act out a scene about the dangers of underage drinking. UPLIFT is a group of incoming freshmen who mentor area sixth-graders about the dangers of underage drinking, drug use and bullying.
Kennedy Voss, a student from UPLIFT, awaits her turn in front of the green screen during which she'll act out a scene about the dangers of underage drinking. UPLIFT is a group of incoming freshmen who mentor area sixth-graders about the dangers of underage drinking, drug use and bullying.

The JCTV studio Thursday afternoon was all about lights, camera, gummies and oregano - all in the name of keeping youth free of the influence of drugs.

The gummies in plastic bags were meant to represent edible marijuana-laced treats, and what smelled like oregano and parsley stood in for ground marijuana leaves. An empty plastic bottle of vodka, some wigs and an overcoat were some of the other props used by UPLIFT camp students as they filmed public service announcements from scripts and storyboards they had written and developed earlier this week.

UPLIFT, which stands for Underage Prevention Leadership Involvement for Teens, is a program put on by the Council for Drug Free Youth.

"It's a peer-to-peer program that's interactive and educational," said Melle Richardson, the council's project coordinator who oversees UPLIFT.

She explained the students in the program will be freshmen, all recommended by their middle school teachers or principals to be in UPLIFT as role models for fellow students.

Students in UPLIFT make a commitment to be an anti-drug ambassador to their peers for one year.

The public service announcements shot Thursday under the technical guidance of JCTV's manager Art Gerhard and assistant Pinkie Gordon are targeted at sixth-grade audiences.

Richardson said the shorts developed by UPLIFT students will be performed live in the fall for students. After seeing the anti-drug performances, sixth-graders are asked to break into small groups, and an UPLIFT student will help these groups develop and perform anti-drug performances of their own.

The recorded versions will exist as inspirational material for next year's UPLIFT creativity, and they can be shown to students when performers can't be there in person.

"It's very nice to give education in a way they're not used to," said UPLIFT student Kennedy Voss, 14, of Helias High School. Voss said the performances from students not much older than their audience help drive home messages, rather than watching a boring video or reading from a textbook.

"It's definitely going to help me be more aware of the issues around me and how to deal with them," said Denali Cook, 14, a student at Simonsen 9th Grade Center.

Nine students in total are part of this year's UPLIFT program, also including Jordan Niemeyer, Jada Otiker and Mia Grayse from Simonsen; Garrett Bruce from Helias; Haydn Shelton from Blair Oaks High School; Clancy Dunn from Calvary Lutheran High School; and Allison Morrow from Russellville High School.

The diversity of high schools helps ensure at least one student of the group will be an alumna or alumnus from the middle school where they present. Richardson said it's exciting for the students to go back to their alma maters and perform.

Monday was a day for team-building exercises and serious discussions about alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, bullying and suicide, which the students researched, Richardson said. On Tuesday, the UPLIFT students came up with ideas for scripts, ran through performances and gave each other feedback. The students drew out storyboards Wednesday.

"We try to keep the students engaged throughout high school," she said of the program's alumni, adding many become involved in their schools' Students Against Drunk Driving groups.