COLUMBIANA CO. Pupils see they can all be stars

The pupils learned how to avoid abusing drugs and alcohol.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALINEVILLE -- Steven Malone has his sight set on ITT Technical College. He wants to learn to make chopper motorcycles.
Steven was among the 75 members of the Southern Local Middle School sixth-grade class to complete a 12-week program, called All Stars, designed to encourage adolescents not to use harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs or inhalants.
The pupils learned through goal-setting and positive peer reinforcement to plan a life that does not include using harmful substances.
"We don't want to use drugs because that can ruin your life," Steven said Friday "All Stars is great, and a lot of fun."
Established this year
The program was established in Columbiana County this year at Southern and at Eastgate Middle School in the East Liverpool City Schools, and run through the Family Recovery Center in Lisbon.
Ginger Wilczak, community coordinator for the state incentive grant that will fund All Stars for three years, taught the program. She said there are also about 75 pupils in the Southern seventh grade and about 250 middle school pupils at Eastgate Middle School in East Liverpool schools who already completed the All Stars program.
After Wilczak presented each sixth-grader with a certificate and a promise necklace, several pupils presented her with cards, gifts and hugs.
The promise necklaces are a reminder to the pupils to keep their commitment to stay away from harmful substances.
Wilczak said pupils who participated in the full 12-week program this year will get an eight-week booster program next year. The program might expand to other school districts, she added.
The goal is to encourage adolescents to develop a healthy, positive lifestyle before they begin to experiment with harmful substances, because presenting such a program to high school students is too late. By then, many are already smoking or drinking, and may even have experimented with drugs.
All Stars will include a summer program with swimming at the YWCA, and community service projects such as cleanup and beautification efforts at Beaver Creek State Park or volunteering with the elderly at convalescent centers, Wilczak said.
Sixth-grader Shawnna Kinsey said All Stars shows what can happen if pupils make wrong choices about using harmful substances. She said she wants to make right choices because she wants to go to college and get a good job.
"You have to just stay away from drugs and just say no," said Mike Pitts, who wants to attend Ohio State University one day and play basketball. "Drugs are bad for your body."
With their arms around one another, friends Jackie VanDyne and Amanda Mattern said avoiding a lifestyle of using harmful substances includes making good choices about friends.
Jana French said the All Stars taught her a lot about how to plan what to do in the future. She plays softball and volleyball and her goal is to one day be a famous rap singer.
Resisting peer pressure
For Carly Warnock, All Stars was about identifying who to turn to if people pressure her to use harmful substances. She said she would rely on her family and God go help her resist.
Carly wears braces and has decided she wants to be an orthodontic sales representative. She knows drinking or using drugs could interfere with that goal.
Alexis Archer said she enjoyed All Stars and working with Wilczak. "She taught us how drugs will ruin your future. It was very educational," she said.