Red Ribbon Week
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more photos of Steeleville High School's observance of Red Ribbon Week, see the Herald Tribune's photo galleries.
<span>Red Ribbon Week may officially be next week, but Steeleville High School is observing the "drug-free youth" initiative with a series of dress-specific days this week.</span>
<span>"Red Ribbon Week is part of a national campaign," said SHS teacher Michelle Mohr. "It is put on by the National Family Partnership and it started in 1985 as a response to an incident.</span>
<span>"There was a (Drug Enforcement Agency) agent who was working undercover in Mexico City. His name was Kiki Camarena and he was killed in a very violent and brutal death."</span>
<span>According to the Red Ribbon Campaign's website, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch on February 7, 1985, when five men appeared and shoved him into a car. A month later, Camarena's body was found and he had been tortured to death.</span>
<span>In Camarena's memory and battle against illicit drugs, friends and neighbors wore red badges of satin. The website states that parents began forming drug-free coalitions, using the symbol of Camarena's memory - the red ribbon.</span>
<span>"The National Family Partnership wants to honor his memory and all law enforcement agents who are trying to make us a drug-free nation," Mohr said. "It's every week October 23-31, but we decided to do ours earlier because it would have butted up into Homecoming (Nov. 2-7).</span>
<span>Mohr said she has posted a poster in the cafeteria for students to write other activities they can try instead of doing drugs, with the question of "Instead of trying drugs, I can try…"</span>
<span>"There's been some silly responses, but some serious things too," Mohr said. "I put out this table every day at lunch that has all this information about anti-drugs, but I have this jar filled with red sixlets.</span>
<span>"People come and make their guess and whoever's closest without going over gets all the sixlets in there. While they're waiting, here's all these statistics."</span>
<span>The students had the opportunity to participate in several themed days, with Monday being "Pajama Day" and Tuesday was themed "Decades Day." Mohr said the school's LifeSavers group decided on each day's theme.</span>
<span>Wednesday was "Twins Day" with Thursday as "Spirit Day" and Friday is "Cop Day."</span>
<span>"We do these themed days to remind them that it is Red Ribbon Week," Mohr said. "They don't get any points or competition, we don't want to link anything like that to it.</span>
<span>"We did the culminating day as the 'Dress like a cop day' as part of our reference to cracking down on drugs."</span>
<span>Mohr said one of the important things for the students is that they see the teachers as role models standing behind the week's message.</span>
<span>"It's not easy to say 'no' to things where you've got peer pressure," she said. "But (students) know that we stand behind that and have high expectations.</span>
<span>"Even though (the dress-up days) are silly and to have fun, we're reminding them that this is why we do it."</span>