Food for Thought: BHS Student Newspaper Editorial authored by Megan John

ls — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:32:43 +0000

The Problem
It is almost a guarantee that every student in high school knows or has heard of at least one person who uses drugs, alcohol, or both. Many even have friends that use the substances. Some kids use drugs and alcohol themselves, and don’t really care that their friends do too; they may even be glad that they have people to do it with. However, there are still a lot of people who don’t use drugs or drink alcohol, either because they don’t agree with it or they just don’t care for it. Chances are, these different groups of people overlap, and a dilemma comes into play when a person who doesn’t agree with using drugs and alcohol is friends with someone who does decide to make the choice to use them.
The first and most obvious problem with people, especially high schoolers, using drugs and alcohol is that it is illegal, and they shouldn’t be using them in the first place. But the next problem that arises is that there is a set of friends who have opposite views on a very serious matter.
Junior Kelly MacDowell, who is against using drugs and alcohol and has friends who think otherwise, commented, “I don’t expect other people to have the same opinions or to make the same choices I do.” And nobody should. It is a person’s right to be able to have their own opinion and do their own thing. So do you stand by your friend and respect that they can make their own decisions and have no obligation to listen to you? Or do you step in and let them know what you think about their behavior?
With a matter like drugs and alcohol there should be a shift in weighting the importance of the other person’s views, and sitting back to watch a friend do something you disagree with that is potentially very harmful. Under most sitiations, this is called enabling.
Megan Moe is the Youth Services Coordinator at various schools in the Beaverton School District, including Beaverton. Her work focuses on prevention, intervention, and mental health. In this situation, Moe believes that, “If you care about somebody you probably should intervene at some level, and the level of intervention depends on the level of concern.”
The Difficulty
There are a few reasons why confronting a friend is difficult. The first could be in the perspective of the friend who doesn’t think people should use drugs and alcohol. If they value what society has to say, then they might have trouble because recently society in general has minimized and normalized the use of drugs and alcohol.
But I think the bigger reason behind being in this tough position is that these friends don’t really know what to say or how to deal with it, even if they want to. “You can try to help them, but you’re not going to change them,” reasoned senior Sam Brown, who has been in similar situations.
MacDowell agreed that, “There’s not much you can do, because people are stubborn and want to learn for themselves what they should and shouldn’t do.”
Also upping the difficulty of the situation is the stepping-on-eggshells routine that has to be played so as not to sound like you are “preaching” or that you are better than the other person because you don’t use drugs and alcohol.
The Importance
MacDowell expressed her view that, “As a friend you should always care about friends and do as much as you can to protect them.” If you have good intentions in confronting a friend about drugs and alcohol, if you really care about them, then you have every right to speak up and say something to them.
Confronting a friend any time is never easy to do, and that is especially true when the heart of the problem really lies in a person’s values. It’s your core values against someone else’s. Moe counters the argument that it could place stress on or ruin a friendship by asking, “At what point are you continuing to let that person harm themselves for the fear of ruining a friendship when really you’re ruining your own values?”
“Some people just make really bad decisions so you should be there to help them,” explained Brown, “and sometimes it’s just that no one else will tell them.” It can really be that simple. You let your friend know that you don’t agree with their actions and that you’ll be there for them. Maybe they just needed to hear it from someone, anyone, and maybe what you say won’t matter at all.
But maybe it will.

Town Hall | Substance Abuse Prevention Wed April 4,2012

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:45:56 +0000

Attention: Highland Middle School and Conestoga Middle School Parents/Students

You are invited to attend a Town Hall. Parents will be updated on substance abuse in Beaverton while given “tips” on how they can best communicate with their kids.

Meanwhile, in a separate area, high school students will identify problems in their schools and how they can work to solve them. Please tell your friends and make it a point to attend one of the Town Halls.

Special thanks to the Beaverton Rotary Foundation and Washington County Commission on Children & Families for providing the funds to make these Town Halls possible. Questions???? E-mail: president@beavertontogether.org

Dates:

Conestoga Middle School- Wed., April 4th 6:30-8:30
RSVP via Facebook here1

Beaverton Teens Top 5 things they like to do!

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:43:54 +0000

We did a random facebook survey of teens in the Beaverton area to find out what the Top Five things they liked to do for fun! This is what we found…that the things THEY liked to do DO NOT involve drugs or alcohol!

Just Ask! We did, and this is what we found…

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:36:24 +0000

Check out our new video, “Just ask” where we put the questions to Beaverton teens about the drug problem in their schools!

SAVE THE DATE!!

ls — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:43:55 +0000

The 2012 Community Leaders Breakfast is scheduled for February 17 at 7:30 am. If you are not on our mailing list and would like an invitation, please e-mail president@beavertontogether.org. This is a great time to come and enjoy a good breakfast, great people and learn about what is going on in the community regarding prevention. The breakfast is co-hosted by Mayor Denny Doyle and BSD Superintendent Jeff Rose. Many thanks to our sponsor, the Washington County Commission for Children and Families.

Thanks for Your Support!

ls — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:18:31 +0000

Many thanks to Bill Adams and Safeco Insurance for the $5000 Community Hero Grant. We didn’t get the big award but for all those who voted for Beaverton Together, thank you for your time and support!