Tyrone Area Elementary, Myers Elementary and St. Matthew’s School are preparing for a Home Run Against Drugs Give-A-Book program slated for later this month.
This new program geared toward second graders is a campaign to fight drugs, according to team manager Sandi Smith.
Home Run Against Drugs is divided into three components, including a 45 minute assembly at the school gymnasium, a free personalized book given to each child and a six-lesson follow-up curriculum to be taught in the classroom.
“We’ve targeted second graders because they’re old enough to understand what we’re talking about,” said Smith, “but young enough to be very impressionable.”
During the school assemblies, which are scheduled for later this month, Smith will talk to the kids about setting goals for themselves and also discuss healthy ways they can take care of their bodies. She also discusses how hurtful tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs are for their bodies.
“It’s a real, interactive type of assembly,” added Smith, who said she gets the kids involved by having them raise their hands and shout out answers.
Someone from the community will talk at each of the assemblies as well. At the Tyrone and St. Matthew’s assemblies, TAHS graduate Tyler Mertiff will address the second graders and discuss the issues of drugs and alcohol. At Myers Elementary, third grade teacher and Bellwood-Antis baseball coach Steve Conlon will address the second graders.
Then, the Home Run Against Drugs mascot, Homer, who is in the shape of a baseball, will come out and speak to the kids, with the motto, “Be a slugger. Hit a home run against drugs.”
At the end of the assembly, each kid is presented with a free hard cover book, titled Homer and Me. The book is personalized with the child’s name and their friends’ names, which are interwoven throughout the story. Because it is personalized with the child’s name and their friends’ names, it is like the child and their friends are actually characters in the book.
Smith said kids love to read the book because their names are printed throughout the story. The Home Run Against Drugs program not only campaigns against drugs, but with the use of the personalized book, it promotes literacy as well.
Home Run Against Drugs then provides each school district with a six-lesson follow-up curriculum. These lessons provide the second grade teachers with the opportunity to elaborate on the anti-drug message in the classroom setting.
Home Run Against Drugs is a national, nonprofit organization. The personalized books and assembly is provided to the school districts at no cost because of major sponsors, area sponsors, and a small grant.
The area sponsors for this program include: Kiwanis Club of Tyrone, Caracciolo’s Steel and Metal Yard, DelGrosso’s Foods, Healthy Alternatives, Rotary Club of Tyrone, Tyrone Elks, Shoe Fly Shoe, Target, Ketrow Travel Agency, Raible-Ketrow Insurance.
Smith said she hopes to repeat the program next year in this area. She is estimating that through her independent printing company, Create-A-Books, she will print and bind 1,300 books for the second graders in the Tyrone, Bellwood-Antis, St. Matthew’s and surrounding school areas.
For more information access the web site at www.homerunagainstdrugs.org
