Meeting with Mrs. Marsh - 12/14/15

Today we met with Mrs. Marsh and talked more about getting the blurbs on the morning announcements and into the school newsletter. However, we are changing the date of our presentation. Kiara has contacted Colter Church and he has expressed interest in helping with our presentation. We are changing the date of the presentation because Callie, Kiara and I have become too overwhelmed with the stress of the holiday season on top of having to study for finals. We just were unable to coordinate everything in time for the presentation to be before Christmas Break because our lives just got too busy.
I didn't want to have to move the presentation, however, I knew that this would be the best in the long run. We didn't want to rush the presentation and not be prepared, and so we are continuing to collaborate and plan for a night which will work well for all of us and for our target audience. Therefore, at this meeting we discussed the date to be sometime at the end of January, and we will definitely stick to this date. This was a challenge for us in having to work around our schedules and move the date constantly, but we know that this date will work well and hopefully it will be a good day for people to come as well.

Meeting 11/19/15

Today, Callie and Kiara and I met again to discuss our upcoming presentation. At this point, we have discussed who we are wanting to talk at the presentation and decided that we are not going to contact the previous speakers we were considering but rather contact somebody else. Kiara's mom went to a presentation in which a man named Colter Church did a drug presentation. He works with the Mesa Country Drug Task Force and has seen first hand the effects of drugs and alcohol on teens within the Grand Valley. We are going to contact him and see if he has any interest in preparing a presentation to present to the parents and teens at our presentation night. We are thinking that he will be very influential because he not only is knowledgeable about the various drugs that teens are using today, but also because he has seen how they affect kids and can vie for the devastation which they induce in the present and the future.
Callie and I are preparing a blurb to put on the announcements and in the school newsletter, so that this event is better advertised.
Again, I think that this presentation should be successful. I'm looking forward to this because it truly is not just  a problem within the Grand Valley, but a problem all throughout the world. I realize that not everybody thinks that drugs are a problem or that their affects are blown out of proportion. However, I am aware of the effects of drugs and alcohol and I believe that people should be educated before they jump to conclusions about the pettiness of drug and alcohol use. Planning this event is exciting because we have the opportunity to reach out to people who might be affected by drugs directly or indirectly, and even if the presentation isn't a huge success, I will continue to try to educate and help those who might not know a lot about drug usage and its affects. I am truly enjoying this because I am not only helping others but I am becoming more comfortable talking to big crowds of people and becoming more comfortable around people in general. It has definitely been a challenge to overcome the naysayers and those who think that drugs aren't a big deal, but I becoming more confident in speaking up about what I believe and what I think.

Meeting with Kiara and Callie - 10/2/15

Today, Kiara, Callie and I met at Main Street Bagels to discuss a date for our presentation or Parent-Student night. We talked about what we wanted the presentation to look like, as far as guest speakers and how we would advertise it, and we are planning for the presentation to be sometime in December before Christmas break. We talked about the potential guest speakers from Hannah Carver and Kierra Hall (one who was a counselor for teens who struggled with substance abuse, and another who worked with troubled youth) and talked about contacting them. Obviously, we want the presentation to address the problem of teen substance abuse in the Grand Valley, but also we want to make teens and parents more aware of the problem and help them to realize there are other options for them rather than participating in drugs and alcohol.
We are thinking that this presentation should be a success. We know that drugs and alcohol are becoming increasingly worse in the valley and both teens and parents need to be informed. I am feeling confident in our ability to organize this and hopefully have a good turnout. I think that this is something that is beneficial for students who may be struggling with substance abuse but also need to know about how the different drugs they are abusing are affecting their brain  and future development.

Meeting with Mrs. Marsh 9/10/15

Today, we met with Mrs. Marsh about our presentation for November. In this meeting, we talked about what we wanted to do at the presentation and verified with Mrs. Marsh the things that we could do on the night of the presentation. She gave us suggestions and we ran our ideas past her to make sure that everything we were doing would be doable. We specifically discussed ways in which we could get the word out to the public about our event, and now we are working to get those done so that people can start planning whether or not they would like to come. We are now writing a blurb to put in the school news letter, a blurb to send out to parents through email, and a short informative statement to put on the electric sign outside of the school. Kierra Hall and Hannah Carver have provided us with contacts whom we are looking into speaking at the presentation. One contact works at the Grand Mesa Youth Center, Miranda Botts, who works around troubled youth and we would like her to provide from her perspective what is going on in the valley and how she has seen the effects of drugs and alcohol or negative influences on the lives of adolescents. The other is a counselor for kids who have experienced drug abuse, and we would also like her to provide insight as to the problem of drugs around the valley increasing amongst adolescents.
This Sunday, Callie, Kiara and I are meeting to write these blurbs to make sure we are on the same page, and also to finalize the speakers and people who we will have at this presentation. We will also designate who will contact which speakers then, so that we can each have a part in the contact process. Right now, I am feeling good about where we are at for this presentation. It is something that I believe is important for parents and students to hear about what is going on in the valley and how their student can get involved in more positive and beneficial activities to not be influenced negatively by drugs and alcohol. We realize that some people may believe that this is stupid or pointless, believing that we are forcing our opinions about drugs and alcohol upon them. But with this presentation night, we are really focusing on the facts of how drugs affect adolescents, providing parents with information that they may desire to be informed about what is going on in schools today, while also providing the student with alternatives such as clubs and activities to get involved in.

Plans for the Future...5/5/2015

Initially, my idea for my CAS project centered around learning the drug curriculum and going out to the middle schools and presenting. It also centered around getting the Neural Activity Club at Palisade implemented and be a leader in running it every week. Now that these things have been done, Callie, Kiara and I want to move on to something bigger. We will continue to present to middle schools and be leaders in the Palisade club, however, we wanted to do something that was connected but somewhat separate, in that we solely are planning this from ground zero. We are going to have an informational Drug Night at the beginning of next school year for parents and students. This will entail multiple areas of planning, from coordinating the people we want there (such as the police office, Chad - the Neural Activity coordinator, etc.) to what we want to do with it overall. This is something we have discussed and know we will do for a fact, but we are still in the planning stage and will utilize the summer to get this all figured out. This problem really is of global significance because people and teens all over the world are influenced by drugs. On trains in Europe, there are blue lights in the bathrooms so that people aren't able to find their veins to be able to shoot up with heroin. 1 in 20 people aged 15 to 64 have used an illegal drug worldwide just in 2009, and the number is on the rise. It is a global phenomenon among teens who feel like they have to participate in drugs to fit in or to give themselves a synthetic artificial high, and I know that with Neural Activity, we are combating this by giving teens an outlet to these negative influences.

First Television Interview for Soberhero Party 4/12/2015

Today, I had the opportunity to do an interview with the news talking about Soberhero. To be honest, I wasn't nervous for the interview at all, which I think is a skill I have developed through the course of being in Neural Activity. I wasn't scared of being in front of the camera and answering questions on the spot, which is something I am proud of considering where I used to be in that regard. Soberhero is similar to Sober Grad that went away in Mesa County a couple years ago, in that it is a non-substance party for incoming juniors, seniors, and graduating seniors to celebrate the time of year with awesome prizes and extremely fun activities. This includes a $2,000 scholarship, Beats by Dre., gift certificates, Rockies tickets, etc. This is a major event for Neural Activity, the biggest we've ever done. The challenge will be getting the word out and getting people to sign up to participate in the time span of about two weeks. We have been planning this for a while and I think that it will be a great way of getting Neural Activity out into the community!
Here is the link to the interview:
http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/Neural-Activity-gears-up-to-host-a-drug-and-alcohol-free-end-of-the-year-bash-302492881.html

SECOND MIDDLE SCHOOL PRESENTATION! 2/15/15

Yaay! Another opportunity to get to present to middle schoolers about the affects of drugs on the adolescent brain! This time around, Callie Kiara and I presented to 2 classes (6th and 7th grade) of about 30 kids each, for 45 minutes or so each, at Fruita Middle School. I noticed that I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was for the presentation as the Redlands presentation. I know that now, that is a skill that I lacked, in being able to relax and do well under pressure. However since I have two presentations under my belt, I believe myself to have acquired that skill along the way, and continue to practice it. Anyway, the presentations went great. The kids were really invested and interested in what we had to say, and they wanted to know more. Again, it was so rewarding to be a part of something that has the potential to impact a life.
I realize that with my CAS project comes ethical implications, and I will consider these ethical implications by presenting accurate and reliable information, or else it could result in worse consequences. I believe that what we do is something that I personally have a very strong passion for. I believe that the youth of today is being heavily influenced by drugs, and so I feel it to be a duty of mine and a desire to educate these young people so that they can make the right decisions to positively impact their future. Almost half of all teens in the United States report that they have used drugs in high school, while 81% of teens say marijuana is easily accessible.  I realize that I have to learn the information and be honest about what I say so that I can be able to help these kids instead of hinder them in the long run. I also think that with this, Neural Activity considers the ethical implication of "telling" kids what to do rather than letting them decide for themselves. We give kids the information they need to make informed decisions about using drugs and alcohol: we don't say "don't do drugs" or "don't drink," because we believe it should be their choice as young adults to make decisions that will affect their future. It is important that we consider all arguments both for against drug use. We understand that people may not agree with the things we say and the information we give. Some people think drugs are harmless and have no lasting effects, while others swear by their medicinal properties. We don't argue with these people, but we do try to help them to see our view and the scientific facts so that they are more informed or can research it for themselves to make their own decisions.