As many well know, Red Ribbon week is a week-long event run by Teen Institute that has always occurred in the last week of october. The main message of this Red Ribbon week is to make “Kids see that you don't need drugs in your life to have fun or have friends,” says Macie Cameron, a member of T.I. Mr. Godfrey, the teacher leader of T.I. also says “It’s basically trying to get the message across to students to make healthy positive choices, not just with drugs but overall just making healthy positive choices.”
Red Ribbon week has always been run by Mr. Godfrey for the 25 years that he has been here. He says “when it first started we called it S.A.D.D students against destructive decisions. now it's just T.I.”
Despite what people think, Red Ribbon week was a huge hit. Mr. Godfrey says “we had almost 200 students that signed our pledge.” It was also a huge hit for students participating, Macie stating “I joined T.I. because I always had a lot of fun in middle school in J.T.I. and T.I. has brought me some of my best friends and the best memories I've had.”
As for the things T.I. did for Ribbon week, students worked a table in the lunch room for students to sign a pledge of a drug free life.
Along with that Mr. Godfrey said “We also have students that are T.I. youth leaders that go to the elementary schools and give presentations about the negative consequences of drug use.” T.I. students seem to think that participating in these presentations was extremely fun.
The history of Red Ribbon week is in the early 80’s, a law enforcement officer named Enrique Carmena was shot and killed in a drug raid. His family in order to honor him started Red Ribbon week as a way to promote awareness of drugs and the negative impact on people's lives.