Prom Letters

Students from Upper Merion High School receieved letters from elementary school grades telling them not to drink at prom. Every junior received a letter the day of prom, and it was very impactful. It told students not to drink and drive. The letter were very cute, because they were from such young students and really made the kinds think.

White Out Day

On Thursday the 7th Upper Merion participated in white out day to help decrease and prevent drinking and driving at proms. A detective and a grim reaper comes to class's and pulls students out to white out their faces, which represents the lives who died in a drunk car crash. The detective then reads oan obituary that the student previously wrote. For the entire day the student with whited out faces are not allowed to speak to anyone. At the end of the day there was an assembly held where Kathy Pletcher spoke about her own personal experience. She was very soft spoken but still very powerful and got the message across. Students were definitely affected and thought twice before making wrong decisions. Personally as a member of this team I felt that the assembly was empowering and sad. I felt sympathy for Kathy Pletcher and would never want to put someone through that.
"It was very realistic and kind of scary at the same time to know that anyone at any time could die and just not be there, it could be your best friend, the person sitting next to you in math class that you never got around talking to, the girl you see in the hallway, and when the speaker came, by the end of her speech I was in tears. Overall it was very powerful."(Meghan Upper Merion 10th grade student)

In the News!

Check out this link to an article in the King of Prussia Courier about our psa shooting!


http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2009/05/01/king_of_prussia_courier/news/doc49f857c111739169416607.txt

Our Community Leader- She's our champion!

Mrs. Kathy Ashbridge is the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for the Upper Merion Area School District. She is also the project director for the local coalition- CAST- Community Alliance for a Safer Tomorrow. She has great wisdom and years of experience in serving youth of all ages. Her desire is to keep youth safe from drugs and alcohol and other risky behavior that could inhibit students from thier highest potential.

Mental health is important at any age!

If youth are depressed, they are more likely to drink alcohol or engage in risky behavior. All are welcome to attend a seminar on Mental Health and Wellness by the Minding Your Mind Foundation on Monday May 4th at 7pm in Temple Bethel Hillel (1001 Remmington Rd) Wynnewood, PA. It's free!

Check out www.mindingyourmind.org to reserve your space!

Taping the Public Service announcement

On April 23rd we videotaped the raw footage for the public service announcement encouraging youth to not drink and drive. The public service announcement is sobering because it shows the horrific consequences of someone who might drink and drive- a car crash. Here are some photos...it was super cold that day and we had to be out in our prom dresses!

Creating Our Public Service Announcement

Today, five members of the Green Light for Sober team met to shoot the public service announcement. The theme of the announcement was a warning to teens about driving safe around prom time. Another theme was that it is wise to call a trusted adult for help rather than risk driving impaired.

Thank you Allstate for your movie directing/ production help and thank you King of Prussia Courier for sharing our story!

Stay tuned for the broadcasting of the PSA on local and school district channels! Now it's the fun part- editing... Go Team Green Light for Sober!

Community Forum Perspective as being a Facilitator

Wednesday, April 22, the community forum was held by myself Abbie Demcher and Bianca Deluca. It went exactly as we planned. Spreading awareness about alcoholism and driving safely was accomplished. We discussed about peoples' thoughts and views on how our school and the general youth today struggle with the use of alcohol. Seeing many students show up to the forum was a good turn-out to both of us. Hearing other students, the administration, teachers, counselors, and faculty's responses contained some extremely good feed-back. We really enjoyed moderating this discussion and hope to do it again in the future.

It's the Chick Fil- A cow!

Our mascot and pictures from the Forum

Eat more chicken?

Yesterday April 22nd, 2009 directly after high school, I was surprised to be greeted by a special guest by my car- the Chick Fil- A Cow! He was waiting for all the student drivers to leave the student lot and handed out coupons for free Chick Fil- A sandwiches if we were wearing our seatbelts. Other students were excited as we got into our cars and one student even asked for his autograph! As I pulled out, I was wearing my seatbelt and I am going to the Chick Fil- A in the King of Prussia mall for a sandwich and their awesome milkshakes! Yay- National Youth Traffic Safety Month!

Community Forum was a success!

Yesterday was Earth Day- Reuse, Reduce, Recycle! Not only did the Upper Merion Area School District celebrate No Energy Day, but the Green Light for Sober Team conducted its community forum. Teachers, administrators, community members, and almost 25 students participated in a great discussion about traffic safety and alcohol. The legal minimum age to drink alcohol, Click it or Ticket Seatbelt safety campaign, party hosting, and alcohol availability were among the issues discussed in detail. Many students talked about the difficulty in asking for a designated driver or in calling a trusted adult or their parents to come and pick them up. The consensus was that it is hard at any age to admit that you are too drunk to drive, because it bring feelings of shame and embarrassment. There was also a general feeling that students are willing to take te risk to drink and drive because they do not think that any of the tragic stats would really happen to them.

Many students felt that drinking is not the only way to have fun, but in the Upper Merion Area, there are few places to go to have fun- the mall or someone's house. Students reported the need for more activities on the weekends at school and/ or in the community. This forum was just a start to the many conversations surrounding tough decisions and alcohol, but all the Green Light for Sober team members enjoyed the conversation, great food (Yay, Corner Bakery), and time to have their voices heard.

If you missed it, watch the Viking Channel School District cable broadcasting (Comcast 28 and verizon 32) TODAY Thursday April 23rd at 8:30pm!

April 17, 2009

This past week our Green Light for Sober team got together to discuss the next up coming events. This week we are going to shoot our public safety video, so in order to tape it we talked about what our main point of the video is and how to get the message across to the community. We discussed each scene and what would happen in each individual scene.
This past week we also discussed ideas for our forum that will take place this week. My teammates who are incharge of this wrote down the ideas and questions that will be asked during our community forum.

Ever Pull a U-Turn?

"Ever Pull a U-Turn? This One Will Help Keep Our Young Adults Alive. Look, we're going to be honest. Talking to 16-20-year-olds about avoiding drunk driving and other destructive behavior isn't easy. At all. Peer pressure, social stigma, the Internet and beyond all tell young adults that everyone their age is drinking and that they're outcasts if they don't join the party.

But, here's the kicker: Research suggests that the opposite is true. The majority of our young people are making smart decisions and abstaining from drinking and driving. We need to encourage and empower our young people to continue making smart decisions and help them understand that their commonly used phrase, “everybody is doing it,” just isn't true.

So, not everyone is drinking. Not everyone is doing drugs. And yet, more and more young adults are dying in drunk driving crashes every year. The PA DUI Association wants that to change. Our response? The U-Turn campaign.

We're hosting a webcast for you – the teachers, parents, police offers and others who care about our youth – so you can see what we have planned for U-Turn, ask questions, give feedback and find out how you can help. We can't do this without your support, so your involvement is really important to us. Please mark your calendars and make plans to join us.
It's easy to get involved. Just visit www.pullayouee.com, sign up and we'll send you all the details. Then, tune in on Thursday, April 30th to participate. Come help us change perception across our state and save young lives while we're at it."

Team DUI Pennsylvania DUI Association
PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency

Thank you, law enforcement!

Did you know that April is Support Enforcement month?

Well, the Upper Merion, West Conshohocken, and Bridgeport police are doing a marvelous job in keeping the Upper Merion Area safe. The Green Light for Sober team and the entire community sends out a big thank you for enforcing drivers to wear their seatbelts and follow the Pennsylvania traffic laws. It is because of dedicated law enforcement that youth are safe on the roadways in the Upper Merion Area! Kudos!

Green Light for Sober Team

Community Forum

Join us for Green Light for Sober's Community Forum on Wednesday, April 22nd at the Upper Merion Area High School LGI room from 12-1pm for lunch and a great discussion about youth traffic safety and drugs and alcohol. Now is your chance to have the whole community- teachers, parents, students, and business owners- come and hear what others in the Upper Merion Area have to say about drinking and driving and prevention efforts that work. Come hungry with questions, concerns, and suggestions to make our neighborhood a safer place!

The BUZZ around school

Welcome to our blog! Students Against Destructive Decisions and Community Alliance for a Safer Tomorrow (our neighborhood anti drug and anti violence coalition- check out www.umacast.org ) are pleased to present this blog. The Upper Merion Area is in the northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. We just had a snow storm, but then again we also just had 75 degree weather... Anyway, we are EXCITED to be in the top 20 teams of the Act Out Loud contest and hope to have a lot of fun!

We had a Students Against Destructive Decisions meeting early this morning before school where we talked about our last student forum on drinking and dances and then we talked about our Green Light for Sober project. I was so tired on Monday morning, but most of us were really excited about the National Youth Traffic Safety Month project. Check out www.ActOutLoud.org and www.noys.org for more info. There were about 15 other students there and we all agreed that our project is really cool- a psa, student forum, and blogging. The video camera we got is pretty sweet. I think we need to start advertising the voting process now to gain support and followers. One of the ideas for the stipend was to have the student forum catered. Students will come if there is good food around. Well, hope everyone out there in King of Prussia, Bridgeport, West Conshohocken, and Wayne all rally around us and vote...VOTE! The principal and teachers are already supporting our project, but we need your help.

Factoid of the week: "Car crashes are the #1 killer of teens".