Welcome to another issue of The SADDvocate! This month brings us closer to the end of the school year - some schools will end this month, while others continue until late June (and there will be one more issue of The SADDvocate in June before we take a summer break). Thoughts are turning to graduation, so make sure you check out the great items available through the SADD Store to show off your SADD pride during the ceremony! Our goal is to ensure that every SADD chapter has the latest news, so we're counting on you to help spread the word about The SADDvocate. Please encourage all of your SADD chapter members to sign up on sadd.org, or send a list (spreadsheets preferred, with columns for first name, last name, and email address) to Chris Egan, SADD's Director of Field Services, at cegan@sadd.org. Sometimes school computer filters prevent students and advisors from seeing The SADDvocate properly, in full color with graphics. You can view every issue in our online archive. This issue will be posted to the archive later today. A good source of regular SADD news is our Facebook page. Please "like" our page today - our goal is to get to 10,000 likes by the SADD National Conference next month. So spread the word - encourage your friends and fellow students to like our page! Links to all our social networking pages are on the bar at left. |
 | New Rx Drug Abuse Prevention Resources |  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently released a number of new educational resources. NIDA now offers the PEERx Educators Guide, a compilation of NIDA's teen prescription drug abuse prevention resources. The guide includes descriptions and links to drug abuse facts, suggested activities, blog posts, videos, lesson plans, and infographics. Additionally, it includes success stories from state and local organizations that have used these resources in their communities.
NIDA has also developed a PEERx PowerPoint presentation with teen prescription drug abuse statistics and information about the PEERx initiative. SADD chapters and others can use any information from the presentation to support their activities.
For convenient access to these materials, NIDA has created a PEERx flash drive, which includes these new resources as well as the Choose Your Path videos, the full PEERx Activity Guide, and useful fact sheets about prescription drugs. Order your FREE flash drive today by emailing peerx@iqsolutions.com with SADD Advisor name and school name and mailing address.
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| SADD Store - Graduation Items |  With graduation upon us, many SADD chapters are looking for ways to honor their outgoing seniors. The SADD Store is there for you, with an assortment of inexpensive items: SADD tassels, cords, and stoles (pictured). Why not show off your commitment to SADD during the most important moment of high school? These items are in stock and ready to ship. Click here to see the entire collection.
To order, visit saddstore.org, call 1-888-608-6988, or email sadd@apisource.com. Make sure you like the SADD Store Facebook page to keep up on all the latest deals and specials!
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| Contests, Grants, and Awards
| Our friends at MADD are looking for students to serve on their MADD National Teen Influencer Group. Students must be 13-18 and a high school student in 2014-15 to apply. If chosen, you'll work with MADD National staff on underage drinking and impaired driving issues. The group will meet monthly via conference call, and may have an in-person meeting as well. Hurry - applications are due May 21! Click here to learn more and apply.
 If you're a student between the ages of 16 and 21, you could win big prizes by helping call attention to teen driver safety in the Bridgestone Teens Drive Smart Video Contest. Create a 25- or 55-second video addressing teen driver safety - the precise focus is up to you - and submit it by June 19. 10 finalists will be selected and win a set of Bridgestone or Firestone tires. Then the public votes for their favorite - who takes home a staggering $20,000 scholarship! To learn more, visit teensdrivesmart.com.
 Teachers (including physical education and drivers education teachers) are invited to apply for Youth Service America's State Farm Student Achievement Program to implement an extended service learning program in their classroom, school, or school district. Funding of up to $4,000 is provided, as well as training and ongoing consulting with YSA's education experts. Learn more and apply by June 6 at YSA.org/studentachievement.
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| Help Support SADD Today!
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 CharitySub is a unique community of people helping make a difference. Their motto is "simple collective giving" and it really is simple: subscribers pledge to donate $5 each month. CharitySub picks a different issue each month, and hand-selects three nonprofits for subscribers to choose from. This month, they've identified "Drug Free Youth" as the issue ( read their cool infographic) and picked SADD as one of the three nonprofits to choose from for donations. Thanks to CharitySub for this recognition! To learn more about them, click here.  There's an easy way to help SADD - it only takes 30 seconds, and generates donations to SADD forever - at no cost to you! Sounds too good to be true? The We-Care Reminder installs as a plugin into your browser - just 30 seconds does the trick. You only need to install it once, and then purchases you make online at participating merchants (and there are 2,500, including many big names) automatically generate a donation for SADD - you don't have to do a thing! Won't you please take 30 seconds right now to install the We-Care Reminder? To do so, go to sadd.we-care.com/getstarted.
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| Programs and Resources |
 May 7 was the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, but it's not too late to take the National Day Quiz at StayTeen.org. Navigate through the quiz and you can enter to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.  May is Global Youth Traffic Safety Month! We hope your chapter is running a traffic safety activity sometime this month. Our partners at NOYS have come up with a number of ways to celebrate this month. On Wednesday, May 14 at 8pm Eastern time, they will be holding a Twitter chat. Just follow @NOYSnews and use #GYTSM14 to join the conversation. Or take a #TrafficSafeSelfie - instead of dangerously taking a picture while driving, take one when you've safely arrived, using the hashtag. You can find lots of social media tips and activities in the GYTSM Social Media Toolkit, which you can download here. Or look for larger activity ideas in the Teen Distracted Driving Community Engagement Guide, available by clicking here.  May 18-24 is National Prevention Week, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). There's a number of things you can do to celebrate this week, which is designed to call attention to the importance of substance abuse prevention and mental health issues. You can sign the Prevention Pledge on SAMHSA's Facebook page, adding your "brick" to the virtual wall. Or you can participate in the "I Choose" Project - sending in a photo of you holding a sign with your personal message about why substance abuse prevention or mental health is important to you. Then look for your photo to be added to the I Choose Photo Gallery. To learn more about National Prevention Week, visit samhsa.gov/prevention-week.  May is also Mental Health Month. Mental health is an issue that's growing in importance for many SADD chapters. May 8 was National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, and you can still access resources at samhsa.gov/children. Or for Mental Health Month itself, visit Mental Health America to take a quick informal screening of your own mental health, get tips to improve your mind and body, and tools to spread the word about the month. |
| Spotlight on SADD Chapters
| This monthly column highlights the impressive work SADD chapters are engaged in nationwide. Want to see your chapter in the Spotlight? Send news and a good photo to cegan@sadd.org.
April was a busy month, with countless SADD chapters running prom safety campaigns and activities - too many to list! We decided to highlight some other interesting things chapters did this past month.
 Laurel Middle School SADD in Laurel, Mississippi, was looking for a service project. They decided to bring paper recycling to their school for the first time. SADD students made recycling bins for classrooms, and worked with city officials and the city's recycling contractor to set up the program. Recycling paper at the school helped save money and protect the environment.
 Newell SADD from Newell, South Dakota was one of many SADD chapters holding Town Hall Meetings on underage drinking last month. Newell SADD partnered with a coalition to host the event, which was combined with a "Family Fun Night" at their elementary school. The night offered education on alcohol issues for both students and adults, with students pledging to remain alcohol free and adults pledging not to provide alcohol to minors. The event also featured food, games, and plenty of fun. More than 200 people attended and walked away knowing more about the risks of underage drinking.
 King Philip Regional High School SADD in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and Franklin High School SADD in neighboring Franklin, partnered on their annual "Walk of Tears." The walk raises funds for SADD scholarships, and remembers one student from each school - Amy Callaghan from Franklin, and Maura Howard from King Philip - who were killed by drunk drivers a few years apart in the 1990s. The schools, fierce athletic rivals, have joined together to both remember their losses and work to prevent future tragedies.
 Riverhead High School SADD in Riverhead, New York, held a "SADD Awareness Week" that featured a different topic each day. Students pledged not to text while driving and received prizes for pledging, in partnership with local Allstate insurance agents. Other topics during the week included dating violence, underage drinking, and bullying.
 Sayre High School SADD in Sayre, Pennsylvania, also held a week of activities for Global Youth Traffic Safety Month, thanks to a mini-grant from the Pennsylvania DUI Association (who oversee Pennsylvania SADD) and PennDOT (the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation), who have devoted considerable attention and resources to reducing teen driver fatalities. Sayre SADD collected pledges not to text while driving, chalked safety messages on school sidewalks, implemented Impact Teen Drivers' "What Do You Consider Lethal" program, and even found a way to give back - delivering lunch to the Sayre Police Department (pictured) and District Court to thank them for their efforts to keep teens safe.
Congratulations to all these chapters for their efforts - and to all SADD chapters working hard to make a difference in their schools and communities!
Material from local news outlets was used to prepare this report. Click on images for original articles.
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| SADD National Conference |
 There's still time to register for the 2014 SADD National Conference, Life is a Jungle: Join the Expedition, which will be held June 22-25, at the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner just outside Washington, DC. You won't want to miss this incredible experience, with dynamic keynote speakers, skill-building workshops, and the chance to meet with your elected officials to advocate for teen traffic safety. Click here to learn more! |
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