“Jason Cross on Empowering Students to Lead Sober Events with Vive18 at 300 Middle School”
[00:00:04] Jake White: So Jason Cross, 300 Middle School. And I came there in October to speak to your students. So we did students there, I worked with students in Kingsport, and tell me about when we met and what you first thought about the idea of vive18.
[00:00:22] Jason Cross: Jake and I met back in October, he came to our school. And I thought it was a great idea. With COVID, a lot of the kids have lost social interaction. And this gives them a forum and a way to express themselves and have fun without drugs and alcohol. So I thought it was a great thing for just for the kids to be able to come out enjoy each other and company in a good clean way. And just to have fun.
[00:00:48] Jake White: Yes, beforehand, did you know about the club, and that it was going to be something that was going to be at your school.
[00:00:58] Jason Cross: So my principal had emailed out and said that we were going to get this club. And he asked for support. And when he asked for support of something I was interested in, so I replied on the email that I’ll be interested in helping out. And then shortly before you came, that’s when I received the email that I was going to be able to sponsor the club and be a part of it.
[00:01:19] Jake White: When I left, we did like a forum. Students could say, what they thought about the presentation, they could say if they wanted to help throwing these sober events with vive18. And we actually got a big response. Like 40 students said not only would I go to the events, I would lead it. Even in my speech, I talked about how 120 people said they were going to come to my parties in college, but I thought maybe 30, or 40 will show up. There’s, some truth in that, but tell me how it’s been leading the group and what you’ve expected and what’s happened?
[00:02:00] Jason Cross: So of course, we have during these winter months, we do have a lot of activities going on, we have cheerleading, basketball for boys and girls, and we have dance. So we started out with about eight students. And then we’ve had, some people leading different sport events and other activities outside of school. But I’ve had really two really amazing students who’ve worked. They’ve came to every single meeting, we’ve been an email contact, and our first event that was their idea. So really, like I’ve told that from the beginning is I’m the the sponsor, I’m the adult. But that’s their ideas, and I will help them accommodate the club and do the things that I need to do. But it’s their idea. So our first event, our theme, New Year’s through the decade was their idea.
[00:02:47] Jake White: So New Year’s, through the decades, what’s this event you guys dreamed up of, or they dreamed up of?
[00:02:53] Jason Cross: Our students came up with the idea, look, so what’s in January, and they came up with New Year’s, and they’re like, we don’t want to just do a New Year’s party, let’s do something where we can have people dress up if they want to, or celebrate in a different way. So they came up with the theme New Years to the decades. We encourage students to dress up. Some of them did that had decade attire on but some of them did not. We just wanted them to come out have fun.
“Empowering Middle School Students Through Vive18: A Journey of Success and Inspiration”
[00:03:21] Jake White: And how did it go?
[00:03:22] Jason Cross: It went amazing. And we did even better than what we can think of. So I would like to shout out the United Way, Bristol and Sullivan County anti drug coalition. So the United Way, provided $250 for us to use for supplies and party supplies, paper and anything we needed. And then the Sullivan County anti drug coalition. They provided pizza, they ordered pizza for us, and they provided the water. And we sat after school and worked about 4:45. I can already look outside of the gym and see wandering around the building was already people. So my helpers were coming in and my faculty members. And they said, this is going to be amazing turnout, because they’re lined all the way around the building. So we had probably, my principal took great amount of pictures for me. And we’re estimating that we had at least 300 kids there, if not 350 for our first event.
[00:04:21] Jake White: Wow that was amazing.
[00:04:26] Jason Cross: When you’re planning this first event, you think, well, my principal came to me that day, and not of course teaching classes, my kids said, Well, I’m coming tonight, you’re going to be there. And I said, Well, yes, I’m like the club sponsor. I said, if you want to work behind the scenes of this club, you can come and help us out. So I think we’re going to have more interest now of like, I enjoyed this event. I want to plan it. So we were planning and my principal came to me on Friday during the day and she said, there’s a lot of excitement in the air tonight and I think we’re gonna have a lot of kids. So we had, the gym was full. They all enjoyed pizza and some water and went home safely and got to have fun in the anti drug, anti alcohol environment.
[00:05:08] Jake White: Well, congratulations, Jason, that is a big turnout for our first event, literally going from October, learning about the program, the students learn about the program for the first time, and get this fun message about choices and living life drug free, to them getting to experience it at an event that they put on for their school and honestly too what I think about if you have two student leaders, and one advisor, I did not expect 300 students to show up. So to have that momentum to build off of is going to be such a great asset for your school, for your culture, and for your student leaders, like talk about confidence in their programming.
[00:05:56] Jason Cross: And thankfully, there’s have been wonderful leaders and thankfully, they’re seventh graders, so we’ve got a grade with them, so we can keep on going. I did hear my kids say, did you have fun to dance and they’re talking about another activity and so we’re definitely going to plan at least two more. We do have the Bristol motor speedway here in town and hopefully we can maybe hook up with them because the race comes in the spring. So hopefully we can get some the United Way mentioned that they do have some connections there. So hopefully we can do that. And of course, we’ll have to do into the school year bash. Summer theme or something.
[00:06:33] Jake White: So that is so fun. I know Kingsport had done something like a turkey bowl, like a football game with the whole school and had a bunch of games. You guys are crushing it with the school dance. So I’m so excited to follow you. And just be a resource line, see, which I’ll come up with. If you’re listening to our podcasts and thinking, how can we get this here. It starts with a fun event at your school for drug prevention, something fun and energetic. And it can get students involved in this idea and get excited about prevention. They can get involved in your coalition in different clubs, they can start with a teen club at their school. And then those other relationships that you build, when you get your community involved, those people are more excited, if they invested in the event, to have someone come speak at your school, they are more than eager to also invest in your programming. Because that’s like the speech lived on. It didn’t just end at a talk. Now you’ve empowered students to bring that message throughout the whole school, they do peer to peer education. And not just telling students you can have fun without drugs or alcohol. They’re showing students you can have fun without drugs and alcohol. That’s powerful.
[00:07:53] Jason Cross: And it created a great buzz as I talked about the beginning of this, with COVID a lot of the socialization in schools went away. I worked the door that night. So I was letting the kids in, and just seeing them, run up to their friends and like, Hey all excited. Like I said, I couldn’t have wished for a better opportunity, because that created a buzz for our club here in Bristol.
[00:08:21] Jake White: I am so proud of you all. This is awesome. If you had to reflect on the experience, and the things that you learned through it so far, what would you say you learned from all this.
[00:08:34] Jason Cross: So one of the things I learned is, kids are going to come out, which is a great thing. I’ve already heard some things like, we’re going to have another activity. And, we may do something like a dance later, at the end of the year, end of the year bash, but when I talk to my members this week, when I’ve seen them, because we want to create also variety, we don’t want to do the same type of activity. So we’ve thrown around ideas. So one of the big things is planning for how many students are going to rock, we want variety, we also don’t want to do pizza every time. So we’ve already been brainstorming, most in this area helps out a lot. So we’re brainstorming, it’s just really finding out what we want to do. Because the community has been very supportive, you’re not away in the solvent county anti drug coalition, and we feel like some other restaurants and companies in this area will support us. So that’s going to be great as well. But really the planning of it went well because I had teachers that come out and help and a couple of my principals there and took a lot of pictures. My assistant principal and my assistant principals was there. So kids also get excited seeing them in a different environment, not academic focus, we’re here to have fun as well. So really just now what have to plan for how many kids are we going to have? My principal said, which we hope, we have approximately 900 Kids, hopefully, maybe next time. Since so many kids came out had fun, and they’ve told everybody about it that hopefully will get half the school or more than half the school.
[00:10:21] Jake White: So I want students when they get to college, to say, I had so much fun, partying sober, I don’t need to drink or use any drugs, I have so much fun without it. That’s the thought in our mind, if we can help students get there, and you were starting in middle school, when the average age students will start using is 12 years old. So that’s in middle school. So we’re instilling this mindset in them, and we can help them maybe even carry it through high school, through college, I think it’s super powerful. And United Way is already talking to me about coming back this year, and working with some of the high schools. So we can, keep this message going and transform the community and build better futures.
[00:11:03] Jason Cross: I think that’d be great for our school because the school is right across the street. And if they were already building it here, and they’re getting used to advance, then they’re going to want in high schools.
[00:11:19] Jake White: Jason, thanks for sharing all this. So people can enjoy hearing the story.
[00:11:23] Jason Cross: Well, thank you. It was amazing. Like I said, you come into the school and getting started and all the help we had from all that everybody that came out from the faculty to help out and principals and the community and the students, I cannot emphasize how much work the students did and how excited they were. Like I said, in the room, from the beginning, I said, this is your club. I’m the sponsor, you plan it, we will fulfill it. So, I’ll throw around ideas about the race and we’ll work around for something for spring, but if they are more creative than I am, so we’ll see where we go.
[00:11:59] Jake White: That is fantastic. If you’re listening on the podcast, thanks for stopping in to hear this story. I’ll see you in the next episode of the Party Talk podcast, where we empower leaders in youth drug prevention.
