KAMSACK — Wearing red T-shirts, about 75 students of the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute performed an awareness activity on the street in front of the school on May 29.
Led by the school’s SADD (Students Against Drinking and Driving) group, the students lay on the pavement to spell out the words: “DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!”
Dressed in red T-shirts, the students involved in creating the “DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!” slogan on pavement assembled for a group photo following the activity. | Photos by William Koreluik
About 75 students of the KCI prepared to find their places before the arrival of the drone that was to photograph them lying on the pavement.
KCI students arranged themselves on the pavement to spell out the words” DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!” during an awareness campaign on May 29.
A drone operated by Cst. Kyle Lacharite of the Kamsack RCMP detachment was flown overhead to photograph the scene.
This was an activity to bring awareness of the hazard of drinking and driving, said Lee Bowes, a KCI staff member, who is the school’s SADD advisor along with Ebony Silborn, Jessica Stangier and Rhonda Tide.
Cst. Dylan Custaloe, who is the RCMP liaison with SADD, said that as a student involved with SADD in Williams Lake, B.C., he had participated in a similar activity in September 1998.
“These students are the future of Kamsack, and this event brings awareness of impaired driving to the community,” Custaloe said. Impaired driving statistics in Saskatchewan are high, but it’s good to see the kids take the initiative and take a stand on what they believe.
A SADD group has been in existence in the KCI for a long while, said Bowes, who has served as the group’s advisor for the past 10 years. A core group of 14 members meet at noon every Wednesday to discuss activities and plan events designed to spread awareness.
Bowes said that plans are to distribute posters of the event throughout the community.
During the year, a number of activities have been held. In the autumn, a representative of SADD Saskatchewan came to the school with several pairs of vision impairment goggles so that students in grades 9 to 12 could see the effects alcohol use has on one’s vision.
Custaloe said he remembers when he had the goggles on, he had tried to throw a basketball into the net and was shocked to learn that where he thought the net was located was way off.
The group held a Halloween-themed photo shoot fundraiser in October and then served “mocktails,” which are alcohol-free drinks, in order to demonstrate to students that options to drinking alcohol are available.
Later in the year, a SADD presenter visited the school to share her story with the students about the loss of her daughter due to distracted driving, Bowes said.
In December, students were involved in a liquor bag campaign in which they drew slogans and designs on paper bags that were left at liquor outlets for distribution among customers.
At a second liquor bag campaign in April, student Beyu Sapinoso won the top prize for having created the best bag.
The school has a large bulletin board that the SADD students use to craft various messages regarding the hazards of drinking and driving, and Custaloe said he was pleased to see the signs on the highway when entering the town that the community contains a SADD group.
On June 13, SGI will be bringing its rollover simulator to the KCI, where RCMP, the fire brigade and Jaws of Life will assemble with SADD members to demonstrate what happens to a dummy trapped in a vehicle that rolls over.
SADD and SCC (the School Community Council) are partnering to hold a mini slo-pitch tournament at the Kamsack Sportsground on June 23, she said. To be held from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the tournament will involve six teams with each team having at least one community member, one member of the school staff and one student.
“It’s an awareness project designed to help bring the community together,” she said, adding that students involved in the SADD group are very much influencers.
“I’m proud of the work the kids do and it’s quite a commitment they make,” said Ebony Silborn, explaining that she was among a group of six who spent an afternoon in the sun and on the pavement drawing the chalk outlines that the students would use to spell out “DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!”
“It’s encouraging to see the students come out for a cause like this,” Bowes said.
Among the advisors of the KCI SADD group are Cst. Dylan Custaloe, and staff members Ebony Silborn and Lee Bowes.
