The second grade class at Myers Elementary School in the Bellwood-Antis School District learned an important lesson yesterday: \u201cBe all that you can be.\u201d
\nYesterday afternoon, Sandi Smith, the Homerun Against Drugs team manager, brought along a slew of props and her favorite anti-drug mascot, Homer, to the all purpose room of the elementary school to discuss with the students the advantages of good choices and healthy exercise, and the disadvantages of using illegal drugs, tobacco and alcohol.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve chosen to speak with the second graders because we feel they are at the age group where they will understand what we\u2019re talking about,\u201d said Smith, whose organization is based in Nevada. \u201cWe\u2019ve spread the word to 325 students in the Hollidaysburg School District last week, and also to about 230 students in Tyrone. Our next goal is to see the more than 600 kids in the Altoona School District next month.\u201d
\nSmith used a variety of props, including Mr. Bad Mouth to show the effects of tobacco on the mouth and teeth; a \u201cjar of tar\u201d which showed students how much tar is in one year\u2019s worth of cigarettes; and a \u201cjar of pickled livers,\u201d which demonstrated what alcohol can do to internal organs.
\nThe children responded well to Smith\u2019s questions, shouting slogans such as: \u201cSet goals, don\u2019t give up\u201d and \u201cstay healthy, and exercise.\u201d
\nFollowing Smith\u2019s talk, she invited third grade teacher and coach of the 2003 state champion Bellwood-Antis baseball team Steve Conlon to speak with the students.
\nUsing his recent accomplishment as a state champion, Conlon explained to his students that his team couldn\u2019t have gotten as far as it did if the players used drugs, alcohol or tobacco.
\n\u201cThis is a great opportunity for me to speak a little and maybe help someone out,\u201d said Conlon. \u201cLearning this type of information at a young age is very important. I\u2019m a familiar face around here and I hope that helps these kids better understand the dangers of using drugs and alcohol.\u201d
\nFollowing the presentation, the children cheered as they had the opportunity to hug, \u201chigh-five\u201d and shake hands with the anti-drug mascot. Also, Smith passed out personalized books to all the students that described a trip to the ballpark with Homer. Each separate book contained that specific student\u2019s name and his or her friend\u2019s name. Smith said this special touch encourages students to become more interested in the book, which teaches life lessons about drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second grade class at Myers Elementary School in the Bellwood-Antis School District learned an important lesson yesterday: \u201cBe all that you can be.\u201d Yesterday afternoon, Sandi Smith, the Homerun Against Drugs team manager, brought along a slew of props and her favorite anti-drug mascot, Homer, to the all purpose room of the elementary school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}