9/10/15 Meeting with Mrs. Marsh

Today we met with Mrs. Marsh about our plan for our presentation. We talked about putting together guest speakers and advertising for the presentation. We agreed that we would do the presentation in November during the parent teacher conferences. The main topic we discussed was how to get the word out to the general public, because we want this event to be open to not only Palisade parents and kids but also people from other schools. Mrs. Marsh told us that we should write up a blurb to put in Mr. Bollinger's news letter, the school district news letter and on the monitor outside. The second topic we discussed was who we would have present. I received a video from the Rise Above organization which illustrates the effects of prescription drugs. Kierra Hall also gave us a contact for a lady who is a counselor for kids who have experienced drug abuse. We decided we would contact her here soon to see if she would be willing to come give a presentation.The other guest speaker we discussed having was a contact Hannah Carver gave us. Her name is Miranda Botts who is the clinical director at Grand Mesa Youth Services Center, we thought she could come and tell everyone what she is in charge of, and what she sees on a daily basis.
This Sunday the 20th Cassie, Callie, and I are going to discuss how we are going to plan this project. We are going to come up with the blurbs that will be in all the advertisements, and then we are going to create the overview and plan for the presentation. We are going to email both Miranda Botts and the other counselor and see if they are willing to come give a quick presentation in the auditorium.
I am anxious to see how this presentation turns out. I am a little worried about how the guest speakers will coincide. However, I think it is important that we are getting multiple perspectives, we have a personal connection with the counselor, a law enforcement perspective and we will have the kids from these drug prevention clubs in order to relate to the students. I'm worried that some people might believe that this presentation is all based on our own opinion. To make sure this doesn't happen we need to back up all our points with relevant information about the effect of drug abuse. Which helps in that we are having these different perspectives from well educated people. I am ready for this presentation to be all planned out, so that our main goal comes across. Educating the parents and students about the effects of drug abuse, and offering alternatives, such as different clubs.

7/29/15 Meeting with Cassie and Callie about plans for CAS Project

Today I met with Cassie and Callie at Main Street Bagels to discuss our plan for our CAS project and how we are going to execute it. We want to do a parent/student night in the auditorium where we inform parents and students about the detriments of drug use in high school but also give them alternatives. Like joining Neural Activity, Rise Above, or even Live Above the Influence. I think this is an important cause because after talking to Mrs. Marsh I learned that Palisade has been having issues with kids bringing marijuana to school. I think this event will encourage kids to stay away from drugs but also join a club that highlights the importance of living a substance free life. In school there has been kids that don't believe in our message of living s substance free life, but if we can impact just a few students and parents that will make a difference to me.

We want to have around three guest speakers come to our auditorium and discuss the drug abuse in some teenagers, and then at the end discuss different alternatives for the students. We want to do it during parent teacher conferences in the Fall that way the parents and students are already at the school. We were thinking around 7 or whenever parent teacher conferences are over.

Our next steps involve getting the word out to parents and students. I am going to look at getting the word out in the School District newspaper, that way parents and students from other schools also have the opportunity to come and listen to our presentation. Callie is going to talk with Mr. Bollinger about putting this event in his newsletter that goes out to the parents. Cassie is going to talk with Chad who is the officer that created Neural Activity, to see if he can come speak. I am going to talk with the leader of Rise Above in Denver to see if either she can come down or if she knows of a good guest speaker that can share their story. We still need to find the exact date and rent the auditorium. I feel very confident after discussing our project that we have a very good idea of what we want to accomplish through this project.

5-29-15 Plans for the end Neural Activity Project

After talking to my group we decided to put together a bigger event in order to promote Neural Activity. We are planning on doing this event in the fall when the new students come from the middle schools. We want to do a parent student information night for any students and parents in the Grand Valley but it will be hosted at Palisade High School. We decided that if we get the okay from Mr. Bollinger we will have a couple different rooms with guest speakers that will talk about different forms of drugs and inform students and parents. To have a successful night we will have to get the word out to the public, I am currently working on a proposal to put in the District newspaper, that will hopefully encourage teachers to join as well. We are still debating if we will make flyers to deliver to schools because that is an expense and we would have to do some sort of fundraising for. It is crucial that our information is all true and full of exact facts. Otherwise we would be misleading to our audiences. The goal of this night will be for parents and students to understand how students don't have to feel pressured into doing drugs, because we are providing them with ways to live a healthy yet fun lifestyle. We are not putting on this event to discuss over and over why drugs are bad but instead encourage students to live to their full potential.

4-30-15 Interview with 104.3

     Today I had an interview at 104.3 in order to promote the Sober Hero Party that Neural Activity is putting on for Juniors and Seniors. I was terrified when I got there, I was afraid that I would forget my line or just mix up my words. When I walked into the office I met the radio DJ, Dan and he told me that he wants to do a video with me and a few other kids explaining why we are apart of Neural Activity. This made me even more nervous because not only did I have to remember my line I also had to quickly put together a reasoning behind why I am part of this program and why I choose to be Sober. This got me to thinking Why do I participate in Neural Activity?
       After thinking about that for a while I realized that I needed to speak from the heart. I joined Neural Activity because I think we have a huge drug problem with adolescents across the world. I joined because I see kids in my community that have done drugs and have seen their lives change, because they either got caught, or it changed them completely as a person. I want to be part of a movement that encourages kids to live a sober life free of alcohol and drugs. I want to start a ripple effect in the grand valley where soon everyone is promoting this drug free lifestyle, and maybe that will create a change in the United States and then in the world.
      Although I was terrified about the interview it went great, and it's pretty awesome to hear your own voice on the radio. Hopefully we can get a lot of people to come support this Sober Hero Party at Lincoln Park Pool.

2/21/15 Polar Plunge

Today was the Polar Plunge out by High Line Lake. The Neural Activity group organized this event as a fundraiser, in order to expand the club but at the same time put on different outdoor adventure activities for the group. I got there around 9am to start setting up the even, we set up tables, soup, and warming tents for the event. People paid $15 to jump into the freezing water in front of the camera. We were hoping to have way more people show up so we could at least break even. Although there were only around 20 people that actually jumped into the water we still ran out of hot chocolate. We hung posters around the school and announced it over the announcements but there was still a very small participation. If we were to do this event again, I would get the word out sooner and make sure to have enough hot chocolate, soup, and spoons. Although it didn't turn out like we were expecting, Neural Activity got their name out to the public! Hopefully people will start to recognize this program and join some of our really cool events. Even though it was cold and we had a small group participating I got to meet a lot of new kids that came to volunteer.