Remember in Elementary school when it was Red Ribbon Week and everyone in the school wore their ribbons around school and said drug-free pledges during the morning announcements?

Remember when Elementary schools held school-wide assemblies and had prize drawings during Red Ribbon Week? I do, but only vaguely.

Throughout Elementary and Middle school, Red Ribbon week was one of the most exciting weeks of the entire school year, because we had fun dress-up days and memorable activities at lunch and during the day. Red Ribbon week was almost like a mini himecoming week.

In high school, however, we don’t do anything to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Did you know that this week, Oct. 24 through Oct. 28 is the District wide Red Ribbon Week? Me neither, until I saw an announcement about it on the Lafayette website.

Yes, the website is announcing this event, and yet the school is not doing anything to participate in the week. Sure, maybe dress-up days and prize drawings are a little juvenile, but I think Lafayette should do something to raise awareness about Red Ribbon Week.

Just last night at my dance studio, I saw a fourth grader walking around, still wearing her ribbon that she received at school that day. We used to be so proud of those ribbons, wearing them around everywhere we went the whole week.

Maybe the reason high schools don’t promote Red Ribbon Week is because they’ve given up on students by now. Sure, if kids are going to do drugs anytime in their lifetime, they probably will have started by the time they are juniors or seniors. However, if our school offered red ribbons that students could wear around school for the week, I’m sure some people would do so.

Basically, what I’m saying is although some students have turned to drugs by their high school years, this is not an excuse to not celebrate Red Ribbon Week and help raise awareness about the harmful effects of drugs.