Fair Grove High School is home to a special club called SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), the group in charge of Red Ribbon Week October 28-31. Their goal? To keep students from making bad decisions. A lot of people don’t realize the negative effect drugs and alcohol have on them before it’s too late, and SADD wants to help prevent tragedies that could screw up lives.

“Red Ribbon Week is really important, because it gets a lot of kids together that believe in the same thing, and they show it to the rest of their classmates,” says Claire Foster, president of SADD, who goes on to talk about her club, “A lot of kids think SADD is an amplified Christian club, but the morals we stand for aren’t just for Christians, they’re for anybody.”

Each day that week, students will come to school with a new theme. Tuesday is wear black, also with a seatbelt check, to ensure that people are being safe when they drive. Wednesday is get your own V-sticker, something that encourages students not to have premarital sex. Thursday, students will receive stickers promoting that it’s bad to drink and drive. To end the week, students will wear their halloween costumes on Friday.

Jon Foster, science teacher and head of SADD states, “If one kid changes the way they think about the positive effect of abstaining from drugs, alcohol, or premarital sex, then the program was worth it. If one kid starts wearing their seat belt, it was worth it.”

Fair Grove schools try to maintain clean and healthy lives year round, and Red Ribbon Week is one way to promote just that.