Heartfelt thanks for you support!

If you missed the story, check it out here. Thanks to YNN and Katie Gibas for the great coverage!

Grades 3 & 4

First Place: Kyle Toms, Grade 3 (click here to see Kyle’s entry!)
Cicero Elementary School, Cicero, NY

Second Place: Megan Stanton, Grade 4 (click here to see Megan’s entry!)
Lakeshore Elementary School, Cicero, NY

Third Place: Peyton Clarke, Grade 4 (click here to see Peyton’s entry!)
Burton Street Elementary School, Cazenovia, NY

Grades 5 & 6

First Place: Mari Saya, Grade 5 (click here to see Mari’s entry!)
Blessed Sacrament, Syracuse, NY

Second Place: Spencer Vono, Grade 6 (click here to see Spencer’s entry!)
Blessed Sacrament, Syracuse, NY

Third Place: Julia McGarrity, Grade 6 (click here to see Julia’s entry!)
Blessed Sacrament, Syracuse, NY

Grades 7 & 8

First Place: Kaci Toms, Grade 8 (click here to see Kaci’s entry!)
North Syracuse Junior High School, North Syracuse, NY

Second Place: Abigail Morgan, Grade 7 (click here to see Abigail’s entry!)
Clinton Middle School, Clinton, NY

Third Place: Emma Henderson, Grade 8 (click here to see Emma’s entry!)
Clinton Middle School, Clinton, NY

Syracuse — The show must go on.

The Drug Quiz Show is struggling for funds and the community can help. Saving the program is a personal appeal from at least three of our staff members who participated through two different schools in the early 2000s.

The program isn’t just about learning about drugs. It’s about talking to students in middle schools about the social pressures they’ll be experiencing in the coming years. Students between sixth and eighth grades are at their most vulnerable: learning early about society’s pressures is imperative.

What better program exists than the Drug Quiz Show to truly teach the students about these problems? The studying and learning in a fun environment makes for a memorable middle school experience. The topics don’t change or go away once they hit high school or college. If anything, that knowledge base helps cement student’s feet firmly in a world that can quickly become dangerous with drugs, alcohol and important life-decisions.

With each year that passes, more societal pressures are added for kids, increasingly at younger ages. Programs like these should be given highest priority when it comes to keeping them around. We implore the community to reach out and give a helping hand to help save this ever-so-important tradition in our schools.

Pepsi’s Refresh Everything grant program could help save the Drug Quiz Show. We just need you, and everyone you know, to vote for it online at refresheverything.com/drugquizshow, or by texting 110516 to 73774.

Through Dec. 31, you can vote once each day through each method to help save a local institution.

• Post a message on our wall!
• Answer the Drug Quiz Show Question of the Week!
• Give us your fundraising ideas and suggestions!

We’d also like to offer big time kudos to our Runners Up, Christian Brothers Academy (Onondaga County), and our two Finalists, Clinton Middle School (Oneida County) and Wyoming Central School (Wyoming County). Great job! : )

That’s the number of 5th through 8th graders who voluntarily participated in the Twenty-fifth Annual Drug Quiz Show.  These wonderful students (all winners in our eyes), representing over 200 schools throughout New York State, studied the materials provided and became engrossed in the exciting “game show” format.  As a result, they were able to answer questions such as:

1.  What drug is involved in 1/3 of all suicides, 1/2 of all murders, and 1/2 of all fatal car accidents?
2.  Name 2 characteristics of inhalants that make them particularly attractive to 10- to 15- year-olds.
3.  What is the difference between “blacking out” and “passing out?”
4.  Would it be an overstatement to say that cigarette smoking is now as important a cause of death as the great epidemics of typhoid, cholera, and tuberculosis in the past?
5.  What is leukoplakia? *

Students became conversant with the legalities, benefits, and risks of substances as diverse as prescription pills, steroids, chewing tobacco, and crack.  They learned the health benefits of laughter and techniques for handling stress positively.  They became familiar with important life skills (decision-making, ways of reducing personal risk factors, saying no, etc.).  In a word, through the program they learned to make decisions based upon fact vs. myth, on sound thinking vs. emotion.

Perhaps that’s why the community has been so supportive.  Each of our sponsors knows that substance abuse is our nation’s #1 health problem.  Moreover, they recognize the power and potential this prevention strategy has to provide more than mere information (i.e., to make available specific tools as well as confidence in dealing with peer pressure) to thousands of public, private, and parochial school students at precisely the time research indicates they typically are faced with having to make their first real-life decisions about alcohol and other drug use.

The Drug Quiz Show is essentially a volunteer run, cost-effective project with a proven track record of replicability.  It has won numerous awards including the New York State Education Week Competition and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ highest honor: the Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Community Health Promotions.  With pride in our progress and even greater hope for the future, we look forward to the day when all students will have this opportunity to positively influence their own growth and development!

*1.  Alcohol.
2.  Accessibility and low cost.
3.  During a “blackout” a drinker remains awake but suffers temporary memory loss; the next day he/she can’t remember what happened while drinking.  In contrast, people who “pass out,” actually become unconscious
4.  No, not according to the British Royal College of Physicians
5.  White, leathery, potentially pre-cancerous patches that can appear in the mouth, for example, as a result of a person’s using chewing tobacco.

If you’re new to the Drug Quiz Show … welcome! We invite you to learn more about our program by browsing the site.  Just click the tabs on the right side of this page.  Or check out our Newsletter. Should you have questions or need additional information, don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you are a Regional Coordinator or School Advisor, please take a moment to register. Once the Syracuse office has verified your information, you’ll receive an email letting you know you’ve been approved to enter your special section of the site. On subsequent visits, all you’ll have to do is login by entering your email address and password. This will give you access to study materials, information, and forms designed just for you. Download and print any or all of these items at your convenience.

As always, we welcome your feedback and ideas. Your insight is invaluable to making the web site meaningful and workable. Enjoy!