The FNL Club took initiative for the celebration of Red Ribbon Week tradition with a booth that handed out red ribbons and offered Casey’s Pledge on campus on October 29, 2019. Although this was a week after the “official” Red Ribbon Week, it was the only event on campus this school year dedicated to the nation wide event.

Red Ribbon Week is a nationally recognized drug, tobacco, and alcohol awareness week that takes place during the month of October.

Students who were with the club believe the booth did accomplish the goal set of having students take the pledge. This is a vow to not get into a vehicle with someone driving who is under the influence of a substance or get behind the wheel under the influence. 

“I think it went really well!” junior Lily Garcia said excitedly about the event. 

Garcia was one of the students helping out at the booth along with the club advisor and other members. 

“I do think we could have had more people go, help, and be more involved in the event,” Garcia also said.

Others who participated from outside the club also believed the club’s message was a positive influence on campus.

“I really liked the cause they had of trying to spread the word of not getting into the car with someone who is under the influence,” said senior Alyssa Grijalva.

Grijalva and Garcia believed Selma High should have found ways to be more involved and spread more awareness of the meaning of Red Ribbon Week.

“I do think we should have done more. We didn’t really do much to spread awareness,” Garcia said. “It’s important because a lot of teens are really careless and it’s important to spread awareness [of the effects of substance abuse] and try to make it stop.”

“We should have done more because there is a lot of [influence infused] violence going on right now and a lot of parties happen around Selma,” Grijalva explained, believing it is important to focus on in campus. “If we have a loss in the community it hurts and impacts a lot of people.” 

Mr. Pallesi, Selma High’s Activities Director, had a response to those students who were disappointed or concerned about the lack of activities to spread Red Ribbon’s message on campus.

“We’ve been so caught up with Homecoming because it is such a big event and two days after is our rivalry game,” explained Pallesi. “So we had to pick and choose doing two things really well or three things average.” 

Pallesi wants the students to know that Selma High can still have time dedicated to the messages Red Ribbon Week is dedicated to.

“Red Ribbon Week should be every week,” said Pallesi. “There’s no reason why we can’t have it next week or the week after and celebrate with the students that drug and alcohol awareness should be ongoing.

Mr. Pallesi and Mr. Esraelian ,Athletics Director at Selma High, are planning on having a student vs. staff “kick-butt” softball game with the theme of stopping smoking addictions in youth. The event had to be pushed back from the official week due to maintenance on the softball fields. However, it is in the process of being rescheduled for a later date.