“Fighting Fentanyl: The Inspiring Journey of Summer and Quinn – Fentanyl Awareness Ambassadors”

Welcome back, everyone to another episode of Party talk. This episode is so special because I got two new friends from the Dallas, Texas area. They’re in Collins County, and it’s Quinn and Summer and they are Fentanyl Awareness Ambassadors. And just by meeting them briefly, they reached out on Instagram to get connected with our movement from Vive 18. And instantly, I was just so impressed by their initiative and what they’re doing. And they want to make a difference. So I wanted to get them here on the show. Learn more about it. So everyone, please help me welcome Summer and Quinn, Summer and Quinn, how you doing?

Hey, Jake, we are doing great here today. So excited to talk about this.

Yes, Quinn, what’s happening?

So we’re going to be talking about fentanyl awareness and the danger that opposes an education about

And how young kids can have such an impact on educating each other.

Yeah, well, that sounds perfect. That’s like, right in line with what we’re doing here with the show. So I’m just really curious. And I think our audience is going to they’re going to wonder this question after they talk with you. They’re like, “Wait, how did we get two rockstars like you to get involved in this work? Like, why did you decide to do this?”

Okay, well, my my sister passed away,a poisoning  last year. And we were just super upset how there is no education on this, and how she could still be alive. If the schools were actually doing something because they knew about this issue. It was happening, but we didn’t hear anything. So we just knew that we had that no one else was going to do something. So we had to ourselves, my family. So we started doing some research. We’re like, What even is fentanyl? We’ve started figuring it out. Like, it’s a very strong opioid that no one really knows about. And then we, we were doing some research, and we came across this amazing, amazing group in Austin called Texas Against Fentanyl. And they were they were just getting started. And we’re like, we really want to help out with them. They seem like they’re going to be a great group. So we reached out, and we decided that we wanted to start our own TXA pod down and Collin County, Texas. And so I I’m like I’m the President of the Quad county ambassadors. So I found a bunch of great people, girls and boys, who seemed really interested and passionate about the subject. Quinn was like one of my first had reached out, “I was like, I want to do something about this. This is a serious topic.” And that’s how we got started. And now we have all sorts of girls and boys in all age ranges that are doing amazing work down here in Collin County.

Wow and Quinn, What kind of drew you to it. Why did you decide to be an early, early member?

So Summer and I have been friends for a long time. And we were so close. So we grew up dancing together, and we became like sisters. And so I was, like, over here all the time, I was close to the Vons. And then, after the tragedy of Siena, Summer, sister’s death. I just I saw, like the suffering that took place, and I didn’t want it to happen to anyone else. And I realized that something needed to change. And if we had the opportunity to change it, then we should go for it. And shortly after Sienna’s death, only a few months later, my uncle died from a fentanyl overdose that same year. And so I thought, like, obviously, it happened to my friend, but I was like, I didn’t think it would happen to my family, but it can happen anyone’s family. And I feel like, we, we need to get that message out there. We need to help people be aware. So that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

A lot of people are like, “No, it’s not going to happen to my family, it’s not gonna happen to my friends.” But that’s what we thought too. And then it did. So people just need to be very aware that it can happen anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

“Creating Fentanyl Awareness: The Hope and Vision of Summer and Quinn”

Yeah. Wow. That’s, that’s so powerful. And for you to share that share your story like that. What’s the crazy thing is that can create generational change. The fact that you are saying, “hey, this happened to my family, to someone close to me, and I want it to stop here.” And I’m going to take action to make it happen. So first of all, just thank you for your initiative. I’m so sorry to hear about your losses. And I want to celebrate you because you’re taking it like it’s something that is personal. You’re taking it personal, but you’re making it impactful for everyone. You’re not leaving it by yourself. You’re bringing it out. And that’s how cultural change starts. You like you’re a part of something big. I do want to ask you the next question, which is like, if we could, we can make like wave a magic wand over your club. And its impact, right? You’re like, Okay, I wish my club would, or I wish this movement would, and you wave this magic wand, what would you want to happen because of your work, or because of your club.

I would want our group I would want I would just want kids to understand the impact of this. And and learn how to say no, and that, and I just want every student in every school to put out this education, and not have any say about it. It should almost be like a credit you have to get in high school that get this fentanyl education. Like it should be part of your health credit, like, and it should, there should be a unit on it. It’s very important. I and would be like the dream to have this be like a mandatory lesson in every school.

Oh, I love that idea.

We do always say if we can save one life, then that’s enough. So just for one life, and like in the main scheme multiple lives, and multiple relationships and multiple family diamond dynamics to be saved from the horrors of this drug like that is why we do it.

“Successful Initiatives and Challenges in Fentanyl Awareness Projects”

Yeah. Wow. So I love what you said about about saving lives, and about the idea of, you know, this should be in the schools like in the process of a student going from beginning to graduation, this stent unawareness should be in there, and will be helpful to be as early as possible, right. So then we can reach people, before accidents can happen. I I’m curious, as far as the things that you’re doing right now, what kind of projects are you going for? Which ones have worked? And where have you felt some roadblocks? Let’s start with one thing that’s kind of like a celebration, what’s something that’s worked so far? Oh,

Oh, we’ve got invited to talk at multiple community events. And I feel those are very empowering to the students that come because we went to one church group, where it’s called the Young Men’s Service League and it’s a bunch of young men who are very sweet people who have just very mature, guys, but they’re also in our schools. And they wanted to spread this to the with their friends. And I felt that was very impactful. And then one of my, one of the ambassadors are doing her Gold Award project on this, and she did an event. And a lot of great kids came to that. And I feel the kids that come to these community events, actually want to help and want to spread the awareness and want to learn. And I feel like those are going to be the kids that are going to help us get this information out there. And also just educate the other people that come to the events that don’t know what this is. And I feel like the community events have been our strongest education point.

Definitely.

Okay. Very cool. Yeah, that sounds that sounds amazing. You’re doing outreach to sharing your story through educating. Let’s talk about a little deeper about that, before we go into challenge. When you think about people who might not know anything about fentanyl, what are some things that you think they should understand?

“Fentanyl Awareness: The Urgency, Risks, and the Road to Recovery”

They should understand that this isn’t just like smoking a joint, it’s not just like, did you have vaping in the bathroom, it’s much more than that. And it’s much more serious. You can smoke a joint or vape, like many times, and you’re slowly killing yourself. But you’re not, it’s not, you don’t have a second chance you do it once. And either you’re addicted, and you might die the second or third time, or you just died straight up. And people just need to understand that do not take pills for anyone who’s not your trusted adult or doctor. My sister in her case, she took it from who she thought was her best friend. And they were best friends. They were very close. Her best friend was a very sweet person. She didn’t know what it was. But they just were messing around at home. And my sister, my sister’s friend brought these pills. And see my sister Sienna, she trusted her but it just didn’t end up how they thought.

I think it’s also important to understand that there’s no sign that it’s fentanyl. You could just think that you’re taking a Percocet or an Adderall or an oxycodone or any kind of pill out there or even some other drugs or we’re beginning to find that they’re containing it. But mainly pills like you can’t smell it. You can’t see it. It looks just like the real thing. But like you can take a Percocet multiple times, but if you take a Percocet leaves with fentanyl, like that could be it.

Yes, kids are like, oh, a Percocet. My parents took that for her injury, like this is doctors prescribe this, this should be safe. But anything that they get off the street is in this day and age is going to be lates. There is no second chance. Yeah.

Yeah, you’re right. That’s so that’s so important to realize, because I think what you emphasized was the fact that you, you just don’t know, it’s a very dangerous time to try any sort of drug to be in a community that like recreates with substance use. Like that’s just a really dangerous place to be around. And it could be one mistake one simple like, well, I just decided to try it or decide to do this. And, you know, back you, you don’t know this, especially by experience, because y’all are younger, but I feel like in the 80s and 90s, this field of drug prevention used to be all these scare tactics of like, Hey, if you use drugs, you’ll die. And so when someone uses a drug, and they don’t die, they distrust the education that they got. The scary thing about living today is that that’s kind of true, though. Because you could take a drug and it could be your last thing. And you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t know the difference by looking in or smelling or touching.

There’s been cases of vapes being laced with fentanyl to nothing safe anymore, you can’t mess around like your parents could in the 80’s.

Yeah, that you’re right, like the lacing of other other drugs. 

One thing that I also do want people to be educated on, is if you are looking to drugs to just like, have fun, or feel something like there are other ways to get that feeling. And if you’re looking to them for relief from whatever you’re going through, then you should talk to someone before you risk your own life.

There’s no shortcut to have an easier life.

Wow. Wow, that is so powerful. Oh, my gosh, well, you just said again, just because it’s so good.

Well, what I said or what she said?

Both of you just say it again? 

Well, they should there’s no, there’s no shortcut to have an easier life.

And if you’re seeking a release for whatever you’re going through, drugs are not the answer. And they are telling me another love and surround you who are willing to help you. And you might not feel that way. But once you reach out, you will see that there are other things that you can look towards in your life.

Yeah, yeah, that is so good. I’m sorry, put you on the spot to do it. Again. It was just it’s just, that is such a needed message. And I can’t think of what I hear about you saying that to you is like, “Hey, we’re not here to judge like, this is the mistake anyone could make.” And you’re not a bad person, you are loved, you are cared for, you are important and valuable. And we would do anything to save your life. And we’re going to be people that you can go to anytime, no matter who you are, what mistakes you’ve made. You’re accepted here.

We are here to support anybody who needs help. We are partners with this one nonprofit grace to change. And we be in Collin County, and we suggest a lot of people to go there.

Yeah, that’s such an important message. Because we don’t want, we don’t want people to feel shame around the mistake and miss out on help. Like, just like you’re saying, we want them to know that they’re worthy of help. And they should feel hopefully, we can’t make them feel that way. But we will do everything in our power to make them know that they’re, they’re loved, accepted and worthy of help.

There’s always a misconception that the the kids that are just popping these pills and having accidental overdoses are drug use, but usually they’re not usually they’re just good kids trying to get through the school year trying to pass their midterms, just trying to get some relief in the hard life that they have to live with in the school system, and all these mental problems that are coming out now. So they’re not drug use. They’re just trying to get through the society that we have built now.

Yeah. And I think of actually, let me just share one thing I just looked up. So in 2022, there were 73,654 people who died from a fentanyl overdose in the US alone. 73,654.

Yeah, it’s crazy

That has only grown as we go into 2023. We’re seeing cases pop up all over the country. And I feel like it’s such a important and impactful issue because like, I had never I’d heard about fentanyl, but I had never known the severity until it was really the girl down the street who is being affected from it, the girl next door and it can be anyone. Like there was how many fentanyl overdoses are taking place, especially this year, and we’re only seeing an increase like it needs. It needs to be out there and the information needs to be known so that people can get help before it’s too late.

Yeah. And I want to talk about something we briefly touched on before the call. But so we mentioned that this could happen to anyone that it could be a one and done experience. And it is. Yeah, exactly. It’s it’s such a large population that you don’t get to learn from the mistake. And what’s really sad is that addiction is a disease, right? It’s but it’s a preventable disease. So we can do as much as we can in our power to have resiliency skills to develop good friends, group friend groups, and positive coping skills, all that stuff can really, really help. Hopefully, like just not have that risk. And like that is number one priority. Right? Like, Hey, you don’t have to use this. And then you have, though, the things where you had mentioned, if you don’t pass away if you don’t die from fentanyl poisoning. What else could happen? Y’all had mentioned a term I definitely want to talk about it a little bit. 

After one case of overdosing on fentanyl, you’re addicted. There is there is basically no cure to it. There is it’s there has been no case. There have been barely any cases where people have gotten over it. My sister’s friend, she didn’t die but she’s addicted. And she’s still struggling from it. She’s She’s, she’s almost passing away every week at this point. She she’s been in many facilities, and nothing’s helped.

Wow. Wow. 

It’s such a it’s such a strong drug like it is a synthetic opioid. It is made to be addictive. And it is a drug that is made to kill. Once you take it one time. If you don’t die, it is called accidental addiction, where you didn’t mean to get addicted to fentanyl. But now that you are in an a lot of people can’t find what they’re addicted to. And then they just go on searching and looking for what what it is. And then when they find that fentanyl, they just keep taking it and taking it, stronger doses, taking stronger doses and there’s no stop to it. And we most like medical professionals haven’t really found a way to deal with that yet. It’s an all word we can do is try to surround those people and try to help them as much as we can.

Yeah. And there is so I spoke I was at the Las Vegas, the DEA, Drug Enforcement Administration, I was at their summit as a keynote speaker. And I got I was lucky enough to meet a high school student who had taken you know, he helped, he started using and he took find out he actually overdosed, and is in recovery right now. And the thing about recovery is it’s a lifelong journey is like, it’s not necessarily cured. Like you said, it’s something you live with, kind of like if you if you have anxiety, you live with anxiety, it’s part of your life, you deal with it. And that’s how you go throughout life. We all have these these things, right, that are unique to us that we live with. But it’s something that I wouldn’t wish on anybody in the whole world that they would have to live with a an addiction or have to go through recovery.

I just heard the withdraws are just horrible. Yeah. Yeah. Worse than any other drug.

Right. Well, you know, it’s I mean, just to talk about all drug use in general. It is. I have heard wild things about fentanyl. Which seems like out of all the drugs This is the scariest to me. And the one that seems to be the least scary and that most students are using if they are using something as nicotine, you know, in vaping products. And the wild thing about nicotine withdrawals too is they’re actually pretty wild too. If you stop using nicotine, it puts your body through havoc. Like it’s so so while they like laid like in nicotine withdrawals very similarly to heroin withdrawals, which isn’t like wild to me.

Yeah that’s crazy because they’re so far off on the spectrum.

“Navigating Challenges: Bringing Fentanyl Awareness to Schools”

Right, right. Okay, let’s let’s talk a little bit about this. What are some you’re doing great work, what are some challenges that you are facing as you go and try to spread awareness and make a difference? What are some challenges you’re facing right now?

Well, we believe the number one way to stop these overdoses is to spread awareness in the schools, assemblies and presentations. So even the kids who don’t want the information, they’re still hearing it. And we’ve been trying to do more school assemblies this year with the schools have just been pushing us away. And just not wanting us to come speak there’s very few schools that have actually what came to us. But my high school, they, they just kept pushing it off, I have asked many times, they don’t want me to do it, they just don’t want to have the awareness. And even though it is Tucker’s law, this new bill that passed for schools have to talk about it. But when they talk about it, it’s just like a short slide presentation that no one pays attention to, which is why peer to peer awareness, which is what we are doing is very important. Kids, kids will listen to other kids. But this was just don’t want to let us do that. Yeah.

Another big problem with my school is we were able to so we went to the same middle school last year. And after Summer left, and now I’ve moved up to eighth grade with another ambassador at my school. They don’t listen to us, they only listened to us when Summer was there, because Summer was truly affected by it. But now the like, they won’t listen to us, they will. They don’t want to cooperate with us. They don’t want to, I’m not gonna say they don’t want to get the information out. But they don’t want to like take time out of school day. But like, at this point your life becomes comes before your education. And so fentanyl education can take, like priority over learning about commas in English.

Yeah, like, oh, no, you’re going to skip 30 minutes of some math class and the math, you’re never probably going to use the fitness education is a lot more important in the school just won’t accept that.

Yeah, that is. Well, first of all, you face your right now facing a challenge that a lot of adults are facing in our in our field of drug prevention. And it is it is battling this, this entity. So the schools are getting directions from usually they get funded by the federal government government has funding that goes down to the state level. And then the state level has all these rules that they follow. And then the principal and the administration feel all this pressure. So just realize, number one, it’s not your fault that they don’t want you in the schools, I hope you know this, it’s not a reflection of the work that you’re doing. Instead, it’s a reflection of all the pressure that they’re under from the state, and what the state says their priorities are. Now I know in in Texas, y’all have recently had some changes with how they treat people who have used any sort of drug. So I think recently, it’s been more of the posture of if someone brings a drug into school, they’re immediately sent to an alternative school.

That’s a new rule that just passed.

“Strategies for Overcoming Challenges in Fentanyl Awareness Education at Schools”

Yup, and it’s a little concerning, because if I don’t know how you sustain a program like that, if a lot of people are using something, I don’t know how you hire enough people and restructure an entire school system to sustain it. But the fact is that that’s the, that’s the uphill battle that we’re climbing. So can I give you a few things that I do that have helped?

Yes, we’d love to hear it.

She’s gonna write.

Perfect, I love it. She’s getting out of note, some notes.

Despite she’s the Secretary.

Way to go Quinn. I love it. Um, so first of all, I always after anytime that you do a presentation, whoever comes up after your words to talk to you, I always will ask them for a little 30 second video testimonial. So if you’re speaking at a school, or if you’re speaking to a community group, you told us about that group of young men you spoke to, somebody comes up to you afterwards, you can say something after they share their story or why they thought it was important. Ask him if they would feel comfortable enough to share that with a little video clip. So that you can continue inspi, inspiring other people and so that their story can make a difference too. Because the worry that people are you’re battling this idea that that you’re coming in as a risk. They’ve never had you at their school before. So they’re they’re risking what you might say, and they’re risking losing of the class time and we’ll talk about that too, in a little bit. But so any any testimonial that you get a little video testimonial, a written one. Video so much more powerful, though, is one of your peers or maybe even adult, an adult who comes up and says great things about you just say, Hey, can we record you saying nice things about him? And then ask them? Hey, what was important that you learned here? Why? Why is it important for people to share this message. And then would you recommend us to visit other places? Like who else should hear this message and why? That way, you don’t have to sell yourself anymore. All these other people are selling you for you. And I say the word selling loosely. Like, you’re, you’re convincing them that you’re worth their time to go in and educate people. So you gotta do some legwork with that. That’s area number one. Oh, go ahead.

I was gonna say it’s a really good idea.

Good, I’m glad. And you can use it right, right on your phone. Really simple. The second thing that can help with this school dynamic is finding out what their priorities are. So if you’re contacting, actually, I’m curious. So when you reach out to the school, who are you trying to contact.

We are usually contacting the Counselor who seems the most passionate. And then they bring it to the principal, because principals are usually harder to get to talk to.

Okay, very good.

At the high school level, principals are always busy, like they’re never around. But since me, and some of the other ambassadors are still operating in the middle school level, it’s easier to get into our principals and to talk to them. But they’re just like, Okay, I hear you, I understand you like we can do something, and then they don’t do anything. So it’s like.

Okay, now this is good to hear. That’s very good to hear. So there’s two, two strategies that we can use. The first strategy would be to be friendly with their concerns of like, hey, we don’t want to give up class time. Great. We’ll come by during lunch. Thank you so much, literally. And here’s the thing, make it as easy as possible for them to say yes, if their thing is class time, awesome. We’ll come before school, we’ll set up a table, we’ll meet students as they come in, near a friendly face on campus for a few days. Then you ask them again, “hey, we’ve been getting great feedback. You have a few videos of their students saying, Yeah, this was so important to learn.” I think everyone in the school should learn it. And then you can, you can ask them again. The other thing is, since principals and administrators are so busy, it’s actually your job to follow up with them. So if someone tells you Yes, it means you have like, you have an initial yes. Now your job is to contact them again, to say, “Hey, when are we doing this? What’s a good date for you, and make it easy.“ So you might just need to pop in after school one day to you know, remind them what they said they would do. And I did this a lot when I started my movement with these, you know, sober parties, drug free parties, is when we get sponsors, I’d have to remind the manager do you remember, like you said you’d give us 40 pizzas for our next event is coming up on Saturday, I’ll send you a reminder on Friday, and then we’ll stop by again on this day. And that way you need their contact information to send those reminders. So just make sure that you’re making it super easy for them, and you’ll find a lot more success. Any thoughts or questions about that one?

Sounds good, too. So consistency

Yep, and and feel. I know it’s for the adults too. They’re going to be taken aback because y’all are actually How Old Are y’all?

I am almost 15.

And I’m 13. And I’ll be turning 14 next month. Yeah,

Yeah, but some of our ambassadors are 18 and 17 and 16s, and we got a lot of me.

“Empowering Youth to Navigate Peer Pressure: Strategies for Saying ‘No’ Effectively”

That is incredible. I love it. Y’all are doing amazing stuff at such a young age. This is really, really cool. The third strategy would be because you know how for each school, you have to meet a new counselor. Yeah. So do you know about the school district? Are you familiar with like a school district office?

Yes, my mom, my mom’s a principal.

I, I met our districts main person, the superintendent superintendent and she seemed like a great person.

That is awesome. Okay, so here’s how things work. If if an employee for the school district gets news from someone who is above them, per se, like who’s ever in charge of all the principals tells them Hey, there’s this amazing group with these awesome student leaders. You need to seriously consider having them at your school, or we’re scheduling them for this week, trying to get them in every school. That’s very powerful. And so it

That would be a dream. 

Yes, that be the dream

So since you know that person, does this person know what you’re trying to do? And does do they know your challenge of getting into the schools yet?

I don’t think she does. I briefly met her at an event. But I could communicate with her further.

So I’m there. Okay. So in our district, we have the superintendent, and we kind of have like a vice superintendent. And then there are two people who oversee clusters of principals. So like, this person has off the principals and this person has half the principals. So my mom is good friends with both of them. And one of them. Great. One of them is actually a mom out our dance studio. Yeah.

And so we’ve been, we have been talking about reaching out to them that that has just never been something that we’ve gone put into motion.

I love them.

We can talk about it at our next meeting, and I can talk to my mom about it to get more structure. 

That is so so good. Okay, I love this. I love the aha moment just just happened here, where you’re like, hey, you know, you know. It’s right in front of you. That is, that’s so good. Okay, so then your, your job, next steps. And I would love to hear how it goes to send me a DM on Instagram, again, keep you updated as I cheer you on. And if you have any questions, suddenly one of those voice notes or something, or we can hop on another call. But the question to ask is, is the tell them your challenge? And to say, Who do I need to talk to in order to get involved with all the schools or something like that, even ask them to ask what are the challenges we might face in doing this? Because they know the school system inside and out. So they might have a strategy. That’s way better than one that I just gave you too. But the main thing is, they will know that you’re a problem solver. They’re not going to think, oh, you know what? These girls in this club, like, they just want to make my job harder. They’re gonna know they’re trying to make my job easier. And they’re saving lives. Why wouldn’t I put them in front of everyone like, This is amazing. That’s what you want to happen.

Another problem that we’ve run into is when we are during the school assemblies, there are always kids who don’t want to listen, there are always kids who wanted to know, who don’t pay attention. And so we have been talking very deeply about trying to make things more interactive and more, like hands on. So the retaining that information, it’s easier because it’s like, Oh, do you remember when this happened? And that’s what that taught us. Like, in that way it would stick in the brain better.

Most kids are very visual learners. So we try to put at least one interactive activity into each presentation.

Yes, okay. I remember and this is something we haven’t talked about yet. So I was speaking in Plano, Texas for Red Ribbon Week, and I met one of your friends.

Wait okay. So Maddie, she spoke there. One of your she a part of your club?

Yeah, yes. One of the ambassadors. Yeah. She told me about you.

That’s amazing. I love that. Okay.

Shout out to Maddie Gibson.

Shout out. I love it. We’re gonna have to share this with her. That will be awesome, man. So she had this game with these flip cards? Is that something that y’all used to like to be interactive? Or do you know about that game she played.

Yes. That was actually one of our friends who was doing the gold award brought up that idea. So and that we found that to be very, very successful with the kids. And we, we tried to make them uncomfortable. And that’s kind of what the game does is when they’re uncomfortable. They’re gonna remember it.

Yes, okay.

Basically in that game. We had like a vote we’d hand like six kids. The signs I would say fit and 10 and like seven of the slides with the posters would have been mom and like to have like Percocet and like real pills. And then we’d have other kids come up, and we’d read out like fake scenarios. And then we tried to peer pressure them into taking, like the fentanyl posters. And until they did it to show how peer pressure works. And you found that super effective.

So like also the reason that it is 10 signs and six contain fentanyl is to represent the statistic that six in every 10 pills will contain it. And so it was found on the off the street. And so it also makes that like stick in like, oh, oh, it’s this is how many this like, I didn’t think like even when I was peer pressured into it, I was like, oh, I’ll just, I’ll just pick the the Percocet one. And then they will pick the final one. And they’re like, oh. Wow

The signs would be like turned around, so they wouldn’t know which ones are ah, so yeah.

Yeah, I thought that was so clever. I loved it. I think the students enjoyed it too, because they love to see their friends on stage with you. They’re like, Oh, that’s my friend up there. You know, they’ve got a poster. And then they flip over the sign. And they’re like, oh, oh my gosh, like they in a scenario they had the one with fentanyl or they didn’t know what it was. So they they’re more in tune to pay attention. I will give you a few things that I’ve learned from doing speaking engagements that could be helpful is the the opening part of your presentation. Oftentimes, what I do, oh, gosh, we could talk for hours about this. So I’m trying to pick which things to tell you. The first part of the presentation is like establishing credibility with the audience and why they should care. And so oftentimes, depending on your topic like this is this is a very serious topic. So you can set the tone of whether this is going to be really serious, or you can set the tone that we’re going to have fun. This matters. This is good information. But we’re going to have fun right now. And you get to choose which one you want. If it’s fun, I would have you do something that’s almost and has, it doesn’t have anything to do with the topic yet. The whole experience is designed just to like create a fun atmosphere so that it’s easier for them to pay attention for the rest of the time. And so they start off trusting you and enjoying the presentation because here’s what goes on. And this is from my training. So correct me if I’m wrong. In a high schooler’s mind, right? Or middle schooler’s minds, they get in the gym, or the assembly or the theater, and they think Great, another one of these people that’s going to tell me what to do and tell me how to live my life. And I got to sit through this boring lecture. Is that pretty correct?

Yeah, not another bag ribbon presentation. Ah, we know that. That’s our how it’s slowly killing us. 

They’re gonna rise. Don’t vape. Say no don’t get bullied, say no to drugs.

If you as you see if you see bullying, be an upstander and be like a thought. Nobody has all these fellas in schools age. Just say no. Like just saying no, it’s not that easy. It’ll solve all your problems. If you say the word no. Like really? Oh,

oh, my goodness.

That’s so much with these presentations.

That’s why I like kids need to be in there for us to like, tell the schools like you can’t just say no. And for us to tell other for us to tell other students you can’t just say no. Like you can. Like you can the others say no.

 But it might always work. Not everyone’s as strong as to just to say no.

 And when it doesn’t work, here’s what you should.

Yes, that’s good. Oh my gosh. Okay, we do that on the side tangent and I want to follow it. What do you do? How do you teach people? Instead of just saying no, I want to know, how do you say no? How do you have the confidence? What words do you say? Because right? If you just be like, No, it’s like, great. Now that person thinks you’re a jerk, and they’re not gonna invite you to.

Okay, we like to tell kids to blame it on their parents. Like, no, my parents drug test me every week, I’m gonna get grounded. I won’t be able to hang out anymore. Or we tell them playing on their sport. No, my sport was gonna drug test me. I’m gonna get benched blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. That’s, that’s a way to easily get out of the situation.

Well, that’s good. Or if like,

Or if like, if it’s a lie, you can still it’s better than being told you’re just like, uh, oh, I was being told there dislike a weirdo that doesn’t want to do anything fun.

Because like rumors can be spread about you like, oh, well, they they don’t want to do anything fun in there. They’re just stuck up. They think they’re too good for it like no. Like, you can you can blame it on something else. 100%. And if you are in a situation where you feel uncomfortable, you can always say that, like you’re sick. Like you can, especially if you’re at a party, like if you’re at a party in that situation. You can always go to the bathroom. You’re like, Oh, y’all I think like I did something and I just feel so sick. Like I gotta go home. And then you can get out of that situation. But you can also you can say No, you can ignore, you can walk away, which are strategies that like school like has always told us. But you can also like, if you have the confidence and if you feel safe enough to you can confront that person, and you can try to tell them, you can tell them like, this isn’t safe, this isn’t good for you. Like, this isn’t something that you should.

Do, right? So this can kill you.

Like, I’m, you could say like, I’m not willing to risk my life. And I’m not, I’m not willing to allow you to either.

“Youth-Led Approaches and Powerful Strategies for Impactful School Assemblies”

Honestly, if you like see pills at a party and you know, people are going to start taking them just call the police. Because that is not the situation you need to be in. And you do not want anyone to have to any innocent people who don’t know what, in this pills to have to suffer.

That’s one thing I tell people all the time. If you are ever in a situation where you think that no or anything dangerous can be present, you should call 911 immediately, because you will not get in trouble. Like people are like, Oh, no, we can’t, we can’t like we’re gonna go we’re gonna go to jail. They’re gonna call my mom like, I’m going to be in so much trouble. Like, they’re not they they’re not going to get you in trouble. Their first priority is to help the citizens and so they’re going to help you. They are trusted adults who have been trained for the situation.

Also Narcan I don’t think we’ve mentioned Narcan yet the Narcan is a life saving opioid reverser effort. I like that. Everybody should always carry on them. I carried my backpack I make all the ambassadors have like five boxes, yo. And it’s very important if you even if you think someone is overdosing, so if you’re not sure still give it to them. It’s not going to hurt them. There’s this great website called more Narcan, please in there, they give it out for free. I know it’s like $40 in like Walgreens and stuff, but you can get it for free from monarchy, please. We just recently got Narcan train so we can like train other people on Narcan and how to use it now, officially. So that is a great. Wow. Congrats. That’s so cool. That was last weekend. So we’re really excited about that.

Wow, okay, I loved this side tangent is perfect. We got to talk about Narcan, we got to talk about how the just say no message is lacking so much. Because even and adults like to say, oh, students will care about their social life or they care about not being labeled as something. Adults care about that too. We don’t want to be socially isolated, or viewed as the, you know, the arrogant or the judgy. One. Nobody wants that. So I love the strategies that you gave, which was like, hey, I need an easy out. No, thanks. Like I’ve got, I’ve got a game tomorrow, or I will get kicked off my sports team, my parents, you know, they’re gonna grill me if they ever find out a drug test me. I love those. I love the fact that you mentioned Hey, if you have the competence, just saying, No, that’s ridiculous. I don’t do that. Like this could literally change my life or this, I could die from doing this. When I think about what’s so crazy as you’re you’re having to deal with a situation that I didn’t have to deal with until I got to college. But you’re dealing with this scenarios, or drugs are just being introduced at such a young age, and they’re accessible, that you’re learning these refusal skills that are really, really important. And you’re already sharing them with other people, which is awesome. I love all this stuff. You’re teaching people. So I’m going to circle back to the presentation. You mentioned all the things that are going through their head on what they’re expecting. Your job as soon as you take the microphone is to surprise them. Don’t do anything that a typical Red Ribbon speaker would do, or a typical drug prevention speaker would do. For me, like mine is super hype. I have a countdown, I’ve got loud music. I get the students high fiving each other, I tell a few jokes, and then I play the drums. And it sounds like totally off topic, but I make a theme out of it. And Summer you had said there’s no shortcut to like dealing with life or coping or something at the beginning of the presentation. And I love that because that’s the same exact message that I use is instead of taking shortcuts, develop skill sets. So you take a shortcut to cope with stress by using a drug. I say this a shortcut could potentially cut your life short. But a skill set is something that stays with you, it makes you better. So if you learn how to cope with stress, if you learn how to cope with anxiety, you can do it for the rest of your life. And you’re not depend on anyone or anything else besides you. And that makes you better. That’s a skill set. So drumming is my coping skill, I can go when I’m stressed, when I’m happy, if I want to make friends, I go to the drum. So I bring in a theme into my presentation that goes in the beginning and the end of the presentation. And those are going to be the most memorable like hooks, where the audience is going to say, Wow, this is fun. I’m tuned in on listening. Now, in the middle, when you’re doing all the content, you’re sharing information. And it’s really difficult for people to hear, because they are going to feel uncomfortable when you tell them the facts about fentanyl, and how it can be found in other drugs. Because the people that are using are going to feel defensive, they’re going to feel like dang, she’s talking about me. And that makes me uncomfortable. So they’re gonna, here’s their defense mechanism is they’re going to turn to their friend, and they’re going to make a joke. Yeah, they’re gonna seem like they’re being disrespectful to you. But it’s really a personal, like little insecurity that’s being activated, because we’re pushing their buttons, and we’re challenging them. So I want you to just remember that, when you get to that needy part where you’re like, This is the stuff they need to hear, expect a little bit of pushback from the audience, expect them to, you know, get that way. And then you can bring them back by changing modes. So you do something serious. And it maybe it’s a mode of like a game or a video or something like that. And they’re gonna get scurvy, boom, then you switch modes, and you’re doing something else maybe that it’s storytime or it’s an activity or it’s something else. And do you have a chance to get them back? Yeah.

Do you have any videos like your whole full assemblies? Because we’d love to watch one of those.

Yeah, I do. Yeah, I can send you a YouTube video that I have the whole thing you can pick it apart.

Definitely take some of those ideas.

“Voices of Impact and Ways to Support”

Yeah, that is awesome. I love it. Hey, use anything that I that I use. And if you have questions about it, just just ask. That sounds awesome. Okay, we, this has been the best talking to you. I loved it. So let’s end with this. How can us out there support you and what you’re doing, what  do y’all need?

Well, I mean, if you want to start here on Ambassador group and your own county, then you can reach out to me and I will give you all the starter information on that. My email is s-l-v-a-u-g-h-n-9- @gmail.com and slvaughn9@gmail.com in other words, and we have all this like starter stuff to help you because we really want to expand to other districts. And but if you’re if you’re not sure you want to start a whole Ambassador group thing, then easy things you can do is just to reposts our posts, we do TXA free post a bunch of like fentanyl awareness stuff, and so does our Instagram TAF_ambassador is our Instagram, I think he was gonna mention it too. And you can repost things like that. And also, I’m just carrying on the box, and I can tell people what it is. And we also have these bracelets that we like to hand out to people. And it has like seen a story like one pill can kill on them. And we get a lot, a lot of people ask questions about this. And a lot of people who don’t know what it is, and we find that’s an effective way to share about that and on. And those are some easy things that you can do. Just talking about it in your friend groups, and in your social groups. Just anything like that any small things.

Are always impactful. It’s the small things that stick with you. It’s the small things that get out there. So just wearing a bracelet, carrying around Narcan, telling your story, or telling like, even like telling our stories, like saying like, Oh, I heard about these girls like this happened to them, or just like, just tell people, honestly spread the word and 

Make flyers hang them up in your schools. Yeah.

If you’re passionate about something like this, or if you’ve been affected by something like this, we would love for you to reach out to us and we would love to talk to anyone who is willing to work with us.

Also, if you’ve already been doing some signal education stuff, we’d love to hear from you. We want to get some more outreach and see what other people are doing as well.

That sounds awesome. Okay, so you heard it. You have like Summer and Quinn do we have permission to do this you are friends now. So if you need an out, Hey, I have a friend who lost someone close. I have a friend who lost her sister to this, I’m not about to you is like Summer and Quinn, are your friends if you’re listening to this. And listen, if you’re an adult listening to this, share this episode with a student. If you have someone who might want to get involved in prevention work and saving lives, share this episode, maybe it will light a fire under them. Because I didn’t tell you just from spending an hour with these two students. They’re incredible. Like they’re going places, they’re learning things and becoming leaders really, really fast. And if you haven’t already been invited to like different conferences and things like that you will be maybe even just by the people listening to this, you know, this, this podcast. Right? So what will happen is, you’re you’re doing the peer to peer education. And there’s a lot more that goes into prevention. There’s different, like laws and policies that can be created to help make your community more structured and safe. There are different strategies that go into making a whole environment and community work. Yeah, more safe, basically, and to build protective factors is what is called in our field, giving more people reasons not to use drugs, and you’re playing a very big part in it. So I will stay in touch with you, if I hear of any opportunities like around your area where they’re going to a conference, I’m going to send them your name and. 

Thank you. Of course. There, there is one thing that you touched on just now that I really do want to preface if you’re an adult, and you know, kids, or you have a child of your own, make sure they know this.

Yes. So if you’re a parent, and you need to educate your kids on this, and sending them this podcast would be great because it’s coming from two other kids. So kids like us into kids more than adults.

But you also have to understand maybe just sending them something isn’t enough. Maybe you need to sit down and have a conversation and be like, “Hey, I’ve heard about this let’s circulating around and I want you number one to be safe. And I want your friends and your community to be safe as well.”

Give them strategies on how to say no, buy him a box in our candy heap in their bag. Just stuff like that. Just to keep your kids safe is number one priority.

Oh, y’all are incredible. Thank you so much for doing this. Really. I can’t say it enough. You are so awesome.

Thank you. You’re great. It looks like you’re doing a lot of impactful work.

Thank you. I’m sure I will be back in your area soon. And we’ll let y’all know. But for everyone listening, this has been another episode of the Party Talk Podcast where we Empower leaders in youth drug prevention. I hope that you feel so encouraged by today’s episode. Go ahead and make this a great week. Keep saving lives and in case someone hasn’t told you recently. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for the work that you’re doing. And if you need any help, you heard it here you can get in touch with Summer and Quinn, you can get in touch with me. We are, we are going to do so much more together than we ever would do apart. And once again, if you know someone who needs to hear this episode, listen to it with them, share it with them. And as always, if you love the podcast, the best way to say thank you is to leave a review. So we’ll see you next Monday for another episode.