SRSLY Youth

October was a fun time to be part of SRSLY. Between Project Sticker Shock, the Link Crew Homecoming Tailgate Party, Anti-Drug posters and lessons with 5th and 6th graders, and having kids sign up to join SRSLY left and right... the past month was totally awesome!

With Project Sticker Shock we COVERED Chelsea businesses with bright green stickers and posters, reminding adults that buying alcohol for minors is in fact, illegal. Seems simple enough, but what really got everyone's attention (including the Ann Arbor News and Chelsea Standard) was the fact that kids were the ones sending the message! 40 CHS students joined together with Chelsea PD and 19 local businesses to raise awareness about the penalties for buying for minors, and send the message that it is srsly not ok.

Over 300 South Meadows students worked on posters to promote a drug-free lifestly in Chelsea as part of the "What's your anti-drug?" poster contest. Kids drew themselves running, horseback riding, skateboarding, reading, climbing trees, and hanging out with their friends and family, because these are all healthy things that help them stay drug-free. For their community service project, Girls on the Run participants brought completed posters to businesses on Chelsea's Main St. and asked them to display the posters in their stores. Once again, the message that kids want to live above the influence is heard that much more clearly when it is coming directly from kids.

So here's what we need now: more youth involvement. Adults can only do so much with SRSLY. I need every kid in Chelsea, between the ages of 10 and 18, to come to a meeting on Thursday night, November 13th, at Beach Middle School library from 6:30 - 8pm, and share your ideas about what we can do to prevent destructive behavior in Chelsea youth. I want to hear why you think kids in this town drink or do drugs, and I want to hear how you think we can keep that from happening in the future. No, scratch that... I don't WANT to hear your ideas. I NEED to hear them! Because let's face it, you guys are the ones on the front lines. You know what's really going on. So you know better than any adult what should be done about it.

Plus, I'll have lots of pizza at the meeting. So even if you don't have any ideas right now, you should come anyways. You'll get to eat some food, see your friends, and hear their ideas. And I'm sure after talking about this stuff for a little bit, you'll come up with some of your own.

Then after you come to the youth-only meeting on the 13th, make sure you join your parents at the community-wide meeting on the 18th, at the Washington St. Education Center cafeteria. That's where we'll tell adults in Chelsea all the great ideas youth had, and get to work on implementing the chnages you asked for.