This year’s SADD Kickoff was held Friday September 15 after the Football game against Forsyth. It was held in the high school gym until 11pm and had games, inflatables and food.
“One of the biggest and most important things SADD [Students Against Destructive Decisions] tries to do is provide fun activities after school hours in a safe environment. It is the first event of the school year and hopefully will be fun and memorable and make kids want to join SADD,” said Lindsay Dunning. Dunning, one of the high school science teachers, is the sponsor for SADD and helps run the kickoffs and so does the cabinet for SADD.
Preparations are done by the cabinet where they decide on themes, games and much more. Hannah Bruner (12), the vice president of SADD, commented, “Preparation for the kickoff consists of brainstorming ideas for games, how we are going to promote it, themes, budgeting etc. We get all of the officers together and we decide a theme, game to do it after, how we are going to promote it, and food. This year, we decided on a Barbie theme!”
Preparing for the kickoff is one thing and spreading the word about it is another. “We promote the kickoff usually on social media and post whatever posts that are from the SADD Instagram account. There were three officers in groups that went to different classes during Advisory on Friday to tell students about the SADD kickoff, what SADD represents, and what we would be doing at the kickoff,” explained Karlee Marion-Swan (11), an executive officer for SADD.
All of these promotions are to attract more people to the kickoff and to tell students why they should come and join the fun. Providing a safe environment for students after school to deter them from harmful activities.
SADD does lots of events and activities during the year, and in doing so impacts students and the school.
Bruner stated, “SADD impacts the school by promoting students to not participate in making bad life altering decisions. We inform students about the consequences about having unhealthy relationships, drugs, alcohol abuse, suicide, etc.”
“SADD has a goal to keep everyone safe, while having as much fun as possible. SADD is an open club that anyone can join. Even if you do not want to be a part of SADD, you are always invited to reach out to any of our SADD officers about struggles you or another person are having,” Bruner added.
SADD is open for all grades to join the club. The kickoff is one of their main ways to attract new people to join the club and to get students excited for SADD. Marion-Swan said, “I would recommend everyone to join SADD. There is nothing to lose and it will only leave something positive in your life rather than choosing something that could leave a negative impact on you in the present or in the future.”
The SADD team has big plans for the year ahead and would like to do a lot more this year. Dunning announced, “We are wanting to do more events this year than in years past. We would like to do an event after a home basketball game and also some field trips. We also would like our officers to be involved more in the community and to seek out volunteer opportunities.”
