Belchertown, Massachusetts
My name is Aline Mata. I am the community engagement coordinator for Belcher Town Overcoming Adversity together. And we do things in the community and the schools to help teach kids about substance prevention and community activities and mental health focus. Jake at a conference in Texas, the CADCA conference, and we also went to see his presentation in Connecticut.
And so we wanted to welcome him here. We had Jake here for the day and each different school. We had an elementary, middle, and high school and he did a presentation for each one of the student groups and it seemed to really go off without a hitch. I heard that it was actually engaging for a presentation of that sort and I heard that one of the teachers said, where do you find such good speakers? So yeah, we had some good feedback so far that the students can realize that it is actually possible to have fun without using substances and that it’s not, it doesn’t make you uncool or you know, just the whole stigma that goes with it.
You know, we need to be free of that and I hope that they really can embrace that lifestyle choice if it’s something they want. It aligns because we aren’t here to tell kids what to do. We’re here to educate and offer perspective and opportunities to engage with the community.
And I think that that’s what Vive 18 really is all about. I would say that it’s such an important topic, to have somebody be able to deliver it to kids in a non-threatening, fun way, it’s totally worth it. I think parents, teachers, just everybody. I think everybody should hear it.
It’s been a pleasure working with you both and you know we are very happy that it all worked out and we would love to have you back again sometime in the future.
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Chris Hoag is the program director for drug free communities in Belchertown, Massachusetts. And I’m also the chair of BOAT, which is the town coalition, Belchertown Overcoming Adversity Together.
“So yesterday we had Vive 18 come into the schools as a pre-event for our great event today, the umbrella wellness. And Jake was able to speak to the sixth and 12th graders and we loved the way that he really gets the audience interactive. You could hear a pin drop. in some of the assemblies because people were just paying so much attention to them. But the messaging that is so clear to us is that you don’t need to use substances as a coping mechanism to make you feel better. he had such great ideas and tips that he shared with the audience about ways that you can get that natural high, so to speak, and really feel good about yourself doing things like exercising or hobbies that you like, like hiking in the woods, or maybe you like to draw and it’s art or poetry, but those are all long-term things that he spoke about as opposed to like, you know, the quick hit short-term things that are gonna just like, you know, maybe you’re stressing out and instead of like, you know, going and meditating, you might pick up a drink and drink just to drown your sorrows and not just take yourself out of your mind. But when that wears off, your problems are still going to be there.
Whereas if you learn healthier coping tools, you have those tools for life. And the more that you use those tools and practice using those tools, then more natural it’ll be for you when you come up against any types of situations that could be challenging. And your resilience is built up so much.
So we love Vive 18. We love Vive 18! Yes, so part of our coalition, are a prevention, treatment, recovery, mental health and wellness and harm reduction program. And we provide resources to the community on all of those things. But our biggest charge as a program director of drug free communities is youth prevention, substance prevention. we had the greatest opportunity to meet Jake at CADCA conferences and really get to know him and his team.
And we love the message that they were able to bring into the community. And it totally matches our goals because we are all about education and empowerment. And that’s exactly what he does is education and empowerment. 100, 120 % bring them, bring them, bring them. know, one of the best things I liked about Jake as a speaker is that in Vive 18 speaking is that they are interactive and they talk with you. They don’t talk at you. And so I think that was one of the most important things that he can do to capture the audience and get people to pay attention.
So 100%, I would say get them, get them. Your community is gonna be psyched. Your kids are gonna be psyched. It was funny, even yesterday our middle schoolers, know, sixth graders went up and asked for his autograph.
So you know that it makes a difference in the community. So definitely I highly recommend Jake White and his team to speak at your schools and provide the education empowerment that he provided our students.”
Abington, Massachusetts
Vive18 speaker Jake White spoke for middle school and high school students in Abington, Massachusetts. “I am Melissa Cook and this is Pam Naly, are with Abington Copes, our town substance use coalition. We are 20 miles south of Boston and I am the program director of Abington Copes and Pam is the project coordinator. All the wonderful things.
So we saw it on the web, Vive 18, and everything that was in the presentation was exactly what was on the video. All the excitement and the energy, students just loved it all. Yeah, Jake presented to our seventh, eighth, and tenth graders and it was definitely something, a different style. The drums really made it for, you know, added to it. And then he did a leadership piece after with our seventh and eighth graders. He hung out at lunch with us and the kids came up and were like, Jake, Jake. And they were all excited… So yeah, it was great energy the whole day!”
Abington, Massachusetts
“Jonathan Boren, principal of Abington High School in Abington, Massachusetts… It was really great. We had our sophomores in at the end of the day and they brought a lot of energy, which was matched by our presenter. Really nice to get that energy out and nicely paced too.
So a little bit of information, then some fun and definitely informative… I think they both saw him as someone they could confide in but also knowledgeable about his topic… The student who, towards the end, just popped by a student I know and I said, how’s it going? She goes, it’s really good. He’s not lecturing us. He’s kind of talking with us, being honest, and inviting conversation.
So they really appreciated the honesty… I actually think college students would be an interesting target audience for this in addition to high schools… I think it’s just helpful for kids to recalibrate and have a more normative view of NOT drinking or smoking because we just know it is more common that they don’t than they do, but I think it’s understood differently. So hopefully that the kids can be self-aware that there are a lot more kids like them making good choices and they should continue to do so…”Vive18 covers alcohol, marijuana/THC, nicotine, opioids and other drug education and prevention.
Abington, Massachusetts
“My name is Matt McCurtain. I’m the principal at Abington Middle School and it’s Abington, Massachusetts.
Vive18 is engaging. We’ve done programs that are anti-drug use programs before, and they’re usually fairly engaging. I think the message of Vive18 is different. It’s not, I’ve done drugs and it ruined my life and you shouldn’t do drugs, but this is how you choose a healthy start and how you build a skill set to maintain that, which is, think, an important message for our kids.
We have Abington Copes here that’s partnered with us to bring Vive 18 in. Being able to extend it, like what’s happening right now, the program is over and I still have kids in the auditorium here working with the presenter and hopefully that’s going to lead to clubs or activities that keep the message going here, so it’s worth the investment.
It’s important for our kids to know. One of the questions that he asked was how many middle school and high school students do we believe are using? And we hear it all the time as administrators, everybody vapes, everybody does this, everybody does that, but it’s not the truth, it’s the perception. And for our kids to be able to see that it’s perception and not truth is important. Just very happy to have had you guys come and thankful for the presentation today.”
Springfield, Massachusetts
Zion Givens from Vive18 was brought out to work with high schoolers for substance use prevention presentations. “Frank Page, principal here at East Long Meadow High School. So we’re in East L. Meadow Mass, is a suburb of Springfield Massachusetts, small little city outside of Boston.
So what we were looking for is just somebody who can connect with their kids and talk to them about what they’re dealing with day to day and also how to navigate some of these different social situations. Because I think the reality that we see with our students is, I mean, it goes back when we were kids, people use teenagers, you know, they use marijuana, alcohol. Today it’s babes, back in the day it cigarettes.
So, how to navigate these conversations and find other ways to deal with stress, decision making, all that stuff. So we came across you guys, it was a recommendation from one of our parents. And it seemed like the right message to send to our kids and help them make some of these decisions. I’ll say the two biggest things we were looking for is one engagement, know, two just the right messaging. Vive18 had that. Anytime we have an assembly in the auditorium, I get nervous. You put 800 kids in one space and you always have that group who can be knuckleheads, which can set a tone negatively. It just makes you nervous. I thought it was a great presentation. You connected with the kids. You got some of the kids who sometimes can be fools to lock in, listen to what you had to say with the conversation. That’s what we’re looking for.
So my hope is that message around skill set and making those decisions that add to that skill set and not those things that are shortcuts or distractions. I think the thing that we’ve often seen, so there’s a youth advisory board that the district attorney’s office runs. It’s throughout Hampton County, it’s all the surrounding communities. And a lot of times, their presentations will come in and go through the cold hard facts. And sometimes I don’t think it’s intended to be threats, but you’ll see things like their programming where you know, there’s some harsh realities that are shared. Even with the stories that you guys shared today, it was more, you know, like the cop showed up. So it was right. It was more about you didn’t miss anything, but there wasn’t that, you know, that person at the end who may have died or been arrested or those harsh realities of some of the other scare tactics you might see in some of these other presentations.
We’ve had those before and they have their message and I think they’re good, but you guys also have an alternative message of how to approach this type of stuff because we really value working with the youth advisory and having them come in and do their presentations, but it’s also good to hear a different way of kind of looking at some of their stuff.”
Easton, Massachusetts
Principal Wes Paul of Oliver Ames High School shares how Vive18 speaker captivates 1,200 high school students as he shares a powerful message on the importance of making good decisions.
