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Boardman program shows dangers that youths face
By ROBERT CONNELLY
BOARDMAN
Mike Trell stood in front of students and talked about his daughter, Erin Trell, while photos from her life went by on a slideshow.
Trell was talking about what happened with his daughter, who died of a drug overdose last year, at a presentation Friday at Boardman High School’s second Yes Fest.
“Erin was so much more than that girl that died last Sept. 30,” Trell said. “There were some things that led up to that point.”
Trell spoke to the students about some of the things that changed in his daughter that he noticed, how she had been wanting to change her life and go into social work and what she would have told them if she was still alive.
“I think she would tell you she cheated herself. ... I’m never going to get to see” her milestones, an emotional Trell said.
He talked about how his daughter died, mixing drugs at a party, and said, “She would tell you that getting involved with drugs cost her her life.”
The second Yes Fest also featured Tim Saxton, district director of operations, speaking to four sets of students from eighth grade through seniors, about lifestyle and drugs. Principal Jared Cardillo was the emcee.
After the an hourlong talk, students poured into the high-school gym where 46 area businesses were set up to display to district students volunteer, club, and mental and physical health agencies available to them.
Saxton talked about lifestyle choices and focused on three aspects — having a margin, or a time to relax; guardrails, or barriers a person puts in for themselves; and success versus happiness. He used an analogy of an algebra book, which has the answers in the back of the textbook.
“I’m giving you the answers. Is that good? Maybe. Is that bad? Maybe,” Saxton told students. “I’m giving you the answers. You still have to do the work.”
At the end of the assembly, Cardillo called some of his friends out in the crowd to join him up front and said, “These are my guardrails, and I can tell you we care about you guys.”
Pam Petras, special navigator for the Help Hotline crisis program, said, “It’s been really good exposure for the students and organization.”
She said there were lots of interested students, and she explained that a big part of working with the hotline is hours of training someone has to put in to work with them.
Senior Chris Walters was walking through the gym with friends during the Yes Fest and talked about what stood out to him most from the day’s speakers.
“The part where [Saxton] said it’s not what you take in, it’s what you give out. The happiness part,” Walters said.
For Trell, he said it was tough to get up and talk about his daughter with today marking the one-year anniversary of when Boardman police knocked on his front door at 5:30 a.m. to get him to the hospital to see her.
He told the crowd he attended last year’s Yes Fest and sat in the back and listened to another parent’s story.
“I don’t think there’s any way to quantify it [Yes fest]. ... Maybe if it’s 10 kids [positively affected] then that’s worth it,” Trell said.