Orcas and Lopez students travel to Chicago for drug prevention training | Islands’ Weekly

by Cienna Richardson

Orcas High School sophomore and Weekly contributor

Over the summer, a group of Orcas and Lopez teens traveled to the Midwest to participate in a program at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.

The training institute, located in Chicago, offered interactive learning sessions geared towards community leaders and youth from July 14-18.

The Coalition for Orcas Youth sent Orcas students Kylie Quill, Joselyn Carpenter, Alexandria Sanders, Mia Topacio Flores, and Lluvia Quintero-Carrion. Ulises Velazquez and Michelle Gil from Lopez attended through the family resource center, and Karina Cerda and Mariana Robles accompanied them.

The Orcas teens were accompanied by COY Coordinator Alison Sanders, Funhouse Executive Director Ryan Carpenter, Funhouse Spanish-Speaking Community Liaison Griselda Cruz, COY project manager Trillium Swanson and chaperone Sarah Hane.

“It was so rewarding to watch them strengthen their skills as youth leaders,” Sanders said. “They should be very proud of the work they did.

These teens say they have a strong desire to help people and make a better drug-free future — not only for themselves and their peers but for our whole community. Through the training, they met many people from all over America. They discovered that while everywhere was different, they were all dealing with substance abuse issues of some sort in their communities. The training taught youth how to address the root causes, discuss risk factors, and identify “hot spots” and “safe spots” on the island.

“It was interesting to see the different strategies other communities and schools used — like how our school does events like the compliment wall or spoons tournament — and also take back some of those ideas to integrate into our own community,” said Topacio Flores, a sophomore.

They also created a logic model, or a problem statement, specific to the Orcas community’s issues and goals. It looked at problems on a smaller scale so they could break them down and focus on issues that contributed to the bigger picture. The teens were divided into regional groups to present these to the conference attendees.

Orcas teens presented with Lopez and made a map with labeled areas in the community where they targeted hot spots and safe spots.

“I was amazed to see the collective passion gathered from communities across the country for the work of prevention,” said Ryan Carpenter. “Hearing how each community addresses the challenges of drugs and alcohol for positive change shines a light on the hope we carry for promoting health in our own community. Having the high schoolers be part of it all makes that hope shine all the brighter.”