Council for Drug Free Youth recognizes students, volunteers

Ragavi Premnath speaks Thursday during the Council for Drug Free Youth's annual banquet about her experiences in the Safety Kids and Show Me Players during her time in elementary and middle school, and the impact being a part of those groups had on her.
Ragavi Premnath speaks Thursday during the Council for Drug Free Youth's annual banquet about her experiences in the Safety Kids and Show Me Players during her time in elementary and middle school, and the impact being a part of those groups had on her.

Six local graduating high school seniors received scholarships during the Jefferson City-based Council for Drug Free Youth's annual banquet Thursday night.

Mackenzie Bondurant, Justin Cobb, Marie Gillam, Mason Hansen, Jenn Hassler and Audrey Williams read from essays they wrote as part of the competition for the scholarships.

More than 40 students applied for the scholarships, CDFY Executive Director Joy Sweeney said. She told the audience gathered in the Capitol Plaza Hotel that organizers struggled to narrow the finalists down to 17. Judges took into account three essays each of the students had written - one explaining why they want to be drug-free, one explaining how Jefferson City can solve its drug problem and the third on how they can remain drug-free after leaving for college. The recipients weren't decided upon until Thursday morning.

"When asked, 'Why should we pick you?' they all had some pretty good answers," Sweeney said.

As Sweeney announced the winners, she asked each to read selected segments from their essays.

Williams said her decision to live a drug- and alcohol-free life wasn't easy. She, like others her age, would face multiple obstacles and challenges as they matured. And her plans had already changed often. She'd wanted to be a teacher, a doctor or a music therapist. Although the plan had changed, common aspects of each choice were that she wants to go to college and then enter a career that would help people.

If she were to become involved in drugs or alcohol, she wouldn't have the opportunities she wants.

Teenagers use drugs or alcohol to relieve boredom and stress, she said. However, in her home, her parents are a model of how to manage stress.

"When things get stressful, my mom bakes cookies and my dad chops wood. I guess some would argue that we have way too many cookies and a woodshed that is way too full," Williams said. "But each - in their own way - deals with the stresses of life."

Bondurant said her faith helps her stay drug-free.

"God is the most important aspect of my life," she said. "And ruining the life he gave me with drugs would be the worst thing I could ever do."

Bondurant said as she goes off to college, she'll have to search out real friends who will keep her on the correct path.

Cobb said communities can do things to lessen the hold drugs have on some of their members.

"The most efficient way to communicate to teenagers is peer-to-peer. Teens tend to tune out adults talking down to them or lecturing on the evils of alcohol," Cobb said. "What really affects them is when someone their own age stands up and makes a case that they believe in."

Gillam, whose mother has been a long-time volunteer with CDFY, said students can be deceptive. Some - whom the organization has recognized for being drug-free - haven't been, she said.

"If CDFY is trying to discourage students from doing drugs, then they need to consistently show students positive examples of how staying on the right path will give you an amazing life as well," Gillam said. "You can make the right choices from the beginning and attain your goals sooner."

She said the organization needs to drug-test the students it is recognizing but also needs to speak with their peers, teachers, principals, employers and family members to assure they deserve recognition.

"There is not an easy answer for how to solve the drug problem in Mid-Missouri," Gillam said.

Earlier in the evening, keynote speaker Heather Gieck, founder of Healing House and New Beginnings, told listeners about her struggles with drugs and alcohol. She'd suffered from sexual, emotional and mental trauma, which resulted in her beginning to use alcohol at 5. She was using pills by 8 and was an alcoholic at 12, when she also smoked marijuana daily. At 14, she began using intravenous drugs and also got her first DWI, she said.

By the time she was 35, she was in prison.

"I learned how to self-medicate, and that became my answer for everything," Gieck said. "I went from partying and thinking I was having fun to, 'I needed the substance to make myself feel good.'"

But she made three choices to change herself, she said.

Her first choice was to change the message she kept telling herself. Gieck started "feeding" herself a positive message.

The second choice was to change the types of people she associated with, she said. Gieck chose people to help her grow "toward a positive, productive, successful life," she said.

The third choice she made was to join activities that helped her develop her leadership qualities, she said. In that way, she learned what her strengths and weaknesses were.

"Young adults, you have the ability to make your voice count and become the best preventative measure to an ever-growing population of youth that think drugs and alcohol are the answer," Gieck said. "Every choice that you make today paves the way for your future."

The CDFY chose two Leadership Volunteers of the Year for 2017: Denise Gillam and Heather McCreery-Conway. Andrea Holloway was chosen as a Parent Volunteer of the Year. It also honored Roger Whittler, of the Missouri Highway Patrol. The Jefferson City Area Board of Realtors was selected as the Business of the Year.

This article was edited at 11:45 a.m. April 6, 2018, to correct the recipient of the Business Volunteer of the Year award.