By Eric Stock
HEYWORTH – Students at a McLean County school have launched a campaign to combat substance abuse.
About 20 students at Heyworth High School are members of Y2N, a campaign through the Bloomington-based not-for-profit Project Oz that says it’s ok to ‘Say Yes to No’ and claims more young adults say no to drugs and alcohol than you might think.
“If you think a lot of students are drinking then you are probably going to want to drink too,” sophomore Kaitlyn Kolhoff said. “So if you think that we need to get that out of people’s minds.”
Kolhoff said the students hang posters in school which show the misperceptions students have about how widespread – or not – alcohol use is in school.
Senior Carly Halberg said the group wants to change social norms through reverse peer pressure and events like after-prom and ice cream socials and she says it’s working, citing surveys from 2009 to 2014 which show an increase in the percentage of students who disapprove of drinking alcohol from 55 percent to 67 percent.
“We’ve seen results,” Halberg said.
The students are also working with the McLean County Health Department on a campaign to strengthen rules against the use of tobacco and e-cigarettes. The group wants them outlawed for adults on campus and students at all school activities.
“E-cigarettes aren’t as safe as people are starting to think they are,” Halberg said.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
