Students teach students to say no

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Jan. 21, 2004
A group of South Panola High School students visited Meridian High School on Tuesday to entertain students and to teach them about a safe and healthy lifestyle.
Tigers Against Drugs, or TAD, tries to reach students through programs such as the Peer Leadership Puppets, Risque Business, Peer Counselors, the Youth Crime Watch Team and Welcome Stranger.
The group's message depends on the program. For example, Risque Business had a sexual abstinence, anti-drug and anti-smoking message, while Peer Leadership Puppets had a peer pressure, child safety and anti-smoking message.
Davidson said the group got through to her. She said she especially liked what the group had to say about drinking and driving because "there is a lot of that going on."
During TAD's day-long visit to Meridian High, the group performed three shows for Carver Middle, Magnolia Middle, Meridian High, West End Elementary and West Hills Elementary schools.
Cindy Burt, coordinator of the Character Education Program for Meridian public schools, brought the group to Meridian.
Jimmy Triplett, a third-grader at West End Elementary, said he learned a lot from the Peer Leadership Puppets including "not to talk to strangers and not to do drugs."
Anderson Booth, a sophomore at Northwest Mississippi Community College and leader of the puppet group, said the group has traveled as far as Hawaii, Canada and California.
Booth, a graduate of South Panola and director of TAD, said group members miss anywhere from 40 to 60 days of school a year while traveling. Members, he said, must maintain a B average.
Many Meridian students said they believe the group had a powerful message, and some vowed never to smoke cigarettes.