Educating Students on Serious Issues

Alexander-Smith Academy recently took important steps to promote the safety and the well-being of its students by organizing fundraisers and assemblies to raise awareness and tackle devastating issues. ASA thrives on the ambition, passion and the bright future of its young students who represent the cornerstone of the school and shape the future with their energetic dreams that must not be consumed by the darkness of reality.

To do this, ASA introduces the canine detection company every year at an assembly in order to demonstrate the drug dog’s uncanny ability to detect contraband. These dogs come to school randomly without alerting the faculty so they can find drugs and other harmful substances on the spot and keep them away from students who could be harmed.

ASA’s science and PE teacher is well-informed of the horrific effects of drugs on young people in the United States and how it affects their health and future. As a result, she called for an assembly to display gruesome pictures of people who use drugs on a daily basis and their current health conditions to get young people to pay more attention to this ugly matter. She showed shocking videos about how parts of our body react while drugs are entering the system to further illustrate the lethal effects of drugs and provided research to show eye-opening statistics detailing the mortality rate and the usage rate.

Students have also displayed an interest in playing a role in raising awareness on this issue, such as one junior who researched and presented the drug Phentanin because he wanted to address the dangerous fact that there are a lot of people using it as Phentanin “is a highly fatal drug” and he wants to “prevent teenagers from taking it.” In order to set the students on the path to success, we have to first eliminate the deadly obstacles that could stop them from growing up, nurturing their skills and achieving their goals.

In addition, the PE teacher raised the issue of sexually transmitted diseases, which are unfortunately becoming more common within young people in America. Therefore, she tasked her PE students with preparing a presentation on STDs for the class so they can be fully informed on this disturbing matter because of its relevance. Afterward, one freshman had an important lesson to share with his classmates with regards to intimacy: “It is vital to have protective sex because teen pregnancy is real.” These students illustrate the importance of raising awareness to this issue and spread warnings so young students can continue to live healthy. In other words, ASA’s PE teacher took steps to prevent her students from coming into contact with or transmitting this disease through reckless actions.

Another heavy issue tackled was abuse. One junior, a victim of abuse, set up a bake sale with the help of the faculty, the Volunteer Service Club, and her boyfriend in order to raise awareness and to collect money to donate it to the Children’s Assessment Center. She is helping abuse victims because she feels that it is “essential to bring awareness of the issue of abuse, molestation and rape.” In addition, the junior prepared a presentation in which she discussed the time she was abused, the number of girls falling victims to abuse every single day, and how we can prevent it from happening. “By bringing awareness to our school about these issues, we as a school can help put a stop to it,” she said.

Alexander-Smith Academy not only focuses on giving students the highest level of education, but also on fighting the forces that are robbing the students of their youth, lives and innocence. ASA’s relentless pursuit for peace, safety and security galvanized the students and encouraged them to raise issues that ASA students were probably unaware of or unintentionally overlooked. Every student has a specific challenge, fear or obstacle they want to overcome in order to continue living peacefully. ASA teaches students that an individual student can eliminate obstacles.