CLARENCE, NY — Each fall, the group Kids Escaping Drugs holds a summit for young leaders in Western New York middle and high schools.
The goal is to help educate them about the drug problem in their communities and also to inspire them to make a difference.
Each school was asked to create a video to help send a message to their community. The best of the group was produced by a group of middle school students from Clarence.
And recently they finished this important project which they hope will save some lives.
"Really, we all just wanted to help this problem that's occurring," student Sylvia Mania said.
After some brainstorming, the students set out with a video camera interviewing classmates, parents, teachers, staffers and people in their community, to get them to share some personal stories.
"Tell us who you interviewed," asked teacher George Gallagher.
“I interviewed the teacher and our family," one student replied.
“I learned that her brother is on drugs and she doesn't know where he is right now," another student added.
“They took stories of years of pain and suffering and addiction and they had to condense those stories down to just a few phrases,” Gallagher said.
George Gallagher is the health teacher at Clarence Middle and he wanted the kids to use the stories of their own friends and neighbors to show how the drug problem is affecting those closest to them. He also wanted to offer hope to those going through it — right now.
“Our intent was to show the students here, that go through this every day, that they are not alone. And the video is the tip of the iceberg unfortunately. The problem is even bigger."
"My brother, he started addiction I'm guessing in high school. He just started getting involved in the wrong crowd and that's how it all started,” said 8th grader Ayden Saglian.
“So this was an opportunity to like, show people hey, it can happen to anybody,” added Ayden.
Many of the students said working on the project gave them a new perspective.
“It did very much shock me, very much, because knowing that this evil thing in the world is ruining everyone's lives, everyone's families," said Sylvia.
“We've lost some students, students lose parents, people come to work every day dealing with these problems at home. And to have support of others who understand what you're going through is a gift that we can give," added Gallagher.
You can see the full video produced by the Clarence Middle School students by clicking here.