The Prevention Club at Fort Vancouver High School has activities planned this week to coincide with the Red Ribbon Campaign’s effort to keep young people drug-free

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

It is Red Ribbon Campaign Week, and a club at Fort Vancouver High School kicked off the special event Monday by planting tulips on campus grounds for Plant the Promise.

“We are planting new opportunities for our community,” said Zay Scott, a junior at Fort Vancouver and a member of the school’s Prevention Club.

Red Ribbon Week is a nationally recognized campaign where students, coalitions, clubs and schools stand unified in their voice against substance abuse and the dangers that are presented around substance abuse, according to Alizz Quarles, an intervention specialist who helps oversee the Prevention Club at Fort Vancouver.

“I want everybody to know that here at Fort, we provide resources and support. We are here for you and you are not alone,” Quarles said.

Scott said that just about everyone knows someone who has been impacted by drugs. The Prevention Club’s aim is to get the word out that there are alternatives to those poor choices. All students are welcome in the club.

“Having those conversations with people that you know and people that you love, it shows that they are cared for and that gives them the opportunity to get the help that they want and the help that they need,” Scott said.

Club members will be asking students and staff members to write down the reasons they are drug-free. Those reasons will be written on the red ribbons, and the ribbons will be displayed.

Chelsea Tyler, a horticulture teacher at Fort Vancouver and the advisor for the school’s FFA chapter, had FFA members help out with the planting of the bulbs.

“It’s just really important to collaborate with all the different groups here at Fort,” Tyler said.

The tulips planted now will bloom in the spring, symbolizing the importance of living a drug-free life.

The Central Vancouver Coalition, which works on prevention efforts, is funding the Prevention Club’s Red Ribbon Campaign events and the bulbs.

Red Ribbon Week officially runs Oct. 23 through Oct. 31. At Fort Vancouver, there will be a few more Red Ribbon events into November, Quarles said.

“We want to stand up and say you are not alone. You matter, and you belong. We want to help you. We want you to know you are loved, and you matter, and we see you, and we are here for you,” Quarles said.

Prevention Club is all about preventing substance abuse. It’s motto this year: Be Kind to Your Mind.

Quarles also wanted to emphasize that teens supporting other teens is a big help in the fight against substance abuse.

“Prevention is effective. Treatment works. And recovery is real,” Quarles said.

That’s a promise, as symbolized by tulips planted at Fort Vancouver High School on Monday.