Seeing red over drug abuse: Rochester students stand united against drugs

Students and faculty line up to form a red ribbon as part of Red Ribbon Week on Friday at Spaulding High School. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - What looked like a ribbon of red and pink materialized under a blue sky Friday afternoon as some 1,400 students from Rochester Middle School and Spaulding High took to the Red Raiders football field for a photo shoot to culminate Red Ribbon Week, a weeklong recognition of substance abuse awareness at both schools.

But the photo op had a dual mission. Halfway through the shoot many students replaced their red T-shirts for pink as a show of support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is October.

Julie Perron, director of Bridging the Gaps, Rochester's anti-drug coalition partner, said it was the community involvement throughout the week that most inspired her.

FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT - One student dons safety goggles to look upward, perhaps for a drone that was also supposed to be on hand to take aerial photos.

"The community involvement was incredible," she said beaming as hundreds of students poured onto the field to take their places for the picture. "There's so much creativity from so many people that are passionate about the message."

As part of Red Ribbon Week, the Rochester Police Department wore special Red Ribbon pins and affixed magnetized Red Ribbons on all patrol cars as a show of support.

Both Rochester Middle School and Spaulding High School also had weeklong Red Ribbon Prevention Awareness activities, including lunchtime banner signings, trivia contests and special dress-up days like hat day "Put a Cap on Drugs."

Prior to the shoot Friday afternoon, the busiest place was just inside the football field where several seniors and members of the Student Athlete Leadership Team were passing out red and pink T-shirts for the students to don.

From left, members of the Student Athlete Leadership Team Hannah Bamford, Alicia Omsang and Ashton Lewis pass out red and pink T-shirts to students.

Team member Ashton Lewis said Red Ribbon Week and the message it brings was long overdue.

"Drug awareness needs to happen," he said as he passed out shirts.

Standing alongside him, Alicia Omsang, another member of the team, said it was important to get all the students onboard with the awareness effort.

"We tried to make it a fun week with a fun twist with spirit week, which got everyone in unison," she said.

Team member Hannah Bamford added that the awareness of the dangers of drugs went up for the whole school when she was a sophomore, when senior Eve Tarmey died of a drug overdose two years ago.

"That was a wake-up call," she said softly.