November 22, 2024 • 13 mins
Recently, 8th grade health students explored and celebrated Red Ribbon Week - a time of year dedicated to learning about drugs and drug addiction. Some students made awareness posters, some tied ribbons around trees and poles outside the school, others made podcasts.
This episode is the first in an occasional series called Student Voices. We hear the two podcasts the students created and what they learned about drugs and drug addition.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the SMOA podcast.
(00:06):
I'm your host, Daniel Bader, communication coordinator for the school district of South
Milwaukee.
Last month, something pretty cool happened at South Milwaukee Middle School.
It was National Red Ribbon Week, which if you're not familiar, like I wasn't, Red Ribbon
Week is when in health, well for us as our health class, students learn about the dangers
(00:31):
of drugs and drug addiction.
Health students in the middle school, eighth grade, middle classes were given a list of
projects they could do around this Red Ribbon Week.
Some students made posters, informational posters that they hung around the school.
(00:52):
One group of students that we did a video on went out and tied red ribbons around the
campus to promote awareness of the week and convince, not it wasn't hard, but convinced
our secretaries to turn the sign out front of the school to recognize Red Ribbon Week.
And everyone wore red on a specific day in the middle school.
(01:16):
But two groups of students chose to do a podcast, which comes to the point of today's episode.
What you're going to hear next are those projects that the students submitted for their work.
And while that's cool, and this is a podcast and I want to promote those things, the content
(01:38):
is fantastic.
Like hearing these children speaking frankly to each other and reflecting their knowledge
and the relationships that they've gained back at each other to really kind of gives
you a sense of where their minds are when we talk about this.
So here they are back to back are the two podcasts submitted by our eighth graders.
(02:03):
Hope you enjoy them.
I did.
I'm Layla and I'm Carly and we go to South Milwaukee Middle School and this is our first
podcast.
On our podcast, we're talking about ways to say no to negative influences.
And talking about addiction and alcoholism.
(02:27):
So she's going to interview me about my topic, which is peer pressure.
And then she's going to interview me on my topic about addiction and alcoholism.
So let's get started.
So I have a few questions for you.
Okay.
What, in your opinion, are examples of peer pressure?
Like what do you think of when you hear peer pressure?
(02:47):
When I hear peer pressure, it's like an example of like everyone else is doing it, so I will
do it too.
And like another example is, well, the reasons why people do peer pressure is because they
don't want to feel embarrassed or they won't be liked by certain people.
And they just want to impress certain people or they want to be part of a certain friend
(03:10):
group area or stuff like that.
And peer pressure might look like doing or saying things that people are not comfortable
with, like making a joke of someone or like just doing weird things again that you're
not comfortable with.
And yeah.
Do you have any personal experiences with peer pressure?
(03:34):
Not many that I can ever off the top of my head, but there are some experience where
I have like joked around with people and it wasn't like a funny joke, stuff like that,
but nothing with drugs or alcohol or anything like that.
And I think another example of peer pressure is if people might think if you don't do peer
(03:55):
pressure, it can resolve to bullying, social media, rumors, stuff like that.
And I feel like most of this stuff happens during middle school, high school, kind of,
because then at your school, you're not really thinking about this stuff.
But in middle school, friends start becoming more a part of your life and stuff like that.
And same thing with high school.
(04:16):
Do you have any examples of what you might be pressured into doing or saying?
Some people might be doing like stuff of like sexual stuff like that, which is something
that like is very uncomfortable for a lot of people.
Maybe alcohol, drugs, or it could be something as simple as bullying someone or something
(04:38):
like that.
Okay.
Last question.
What are some ways to cope with peer pressure?
I think some ways to cope with peer pressure is definitely talking to someone about it.
Like someone that you trust or a trusted adult and they can help you find new peers.
They can help you find new friends, get that friend like out, like away from you and you
(05:02):
don't have to deal with them anymore.
And yeah.
But I think another way is change the people you hang around with.
If your friends are telling you to do certain things, then they're not really your friends.
What if it's more like an adult or someone like a family member or someone who has more
of like an authority over you?
(05:22):
I think that you should, if you have any like friends, you can talk to their parents and
their parents might have something to help you do with that.
Or you can talk to a teacher or a principal or some adult at school.
They can also get you help on how to do like, they'll give you options on like what stuff
you can do.
(05:42):
Okay.
And I think another idea is it's not always good to like lie.
It's like lie.
Sometimes obviously people lie, but in like a situation, if that gets you out of a situation
that you're not comfortable with being in or whatever, then you can lie about it.
And I think it's a good time for you to lie about that stuff.
(06:04):
And I got all this information off of peer pressure, Galen Context.
All right.
Those are all my questions.
Okay.
Now that we did my part, we're going to do her part now.
Okay.
So the first question that I have for you is how do you think people get addicted so
badly?
Well, I think at first all, there's like two main ways that people, you know, start drinking
(06:27):
or taking drugs or, you know, smoking, vaping, any of that like sort of thing.
It's usually because of two things, either, you know, peer pressure, like you were talking
about.
Like, for example, you could be at like a party or with some friends and they're like,
you know, like, I'll take this or do this.
You know, like, it's cool.
Like it's fine.
(06:47):
You know, like do it like come on.
Or it could be more of like a mental thing where you try it because you might be going
through a lot or you struggle with depression, anxiety, you know, other mental illnesses
or just other like disorders too that could, you know, make your life harder.
(07:09):
And a big part about all of those things like alcohol or drugs or anything, it releases
a chemical in your brain that I read an article that it's called serotonin and it's a happy
chemical that you will let your body releases and those things like alcohol and drugs and
(07:33):
vaping and everything, it releases that.
And it's also a way of coping.
It helps you feel calm in a sort of way, but it's more short term and then long term.
It leads to other things, right, which leads to like, you know, alcoholism and addiction.
Okay.
So before I get into the next question, I have another question for you.
(07:55):
Can you explain what alcoholism is?
Yeah, it's basically like being an alcoholic, but to like a higher extent, it's like a,
it's like a disease, like a chronic disease.
It's like in which a person, it like you crave alcohol, but it's like uncontrollable.
Like you can't control, you're unable to control like your drinking and like how much you drink.
(08:23):
Like you just want it, you crave it.
Okay, great explanation.
All right.
The next question I have for you is how do you think addiction can change you or your
life so much?
Well, for example, with alcoholism, because you're unable to control it and you crave
it so much, it can, like alcohol in general or just drugs, they lead to a lot of health
(08:46):
risks.
For example, liver damage, heart damage, or like brain damage even, which could like later
soon turn into like a risk of even death.
And along with it can cause you to have high blood pressure or low sugars in your blood
(09:08):
and things like that, which like again, later turn into, you know, things that are more
high risk like death or, you know, other things like that.
Or just, you know, like regular, like, you know, how vapes and like cigarettes can cause
cancer and things like that.
And I think that plays a big part in getting clean when you are addicted because after
(09:32):
a certain point, your body starts to depend on it for either that chemical or other things,
because you're taking it so often that you're not only you need it mentally, but your body
starts to crave it, not just you, like in the headspace.
And that makes it hard to get clean because you, you know, you start to have those health
risks if you keep doing it, but then you have those, you can get sick if you stop after
(09:57):
a certain point.
Yeah.
And that can also lead to death.
Yeah.
I have another question.
Have you like ever dealt with like a family member or a friend that dealt with something
like this before?
Yeah.
A few, a few family members in the past have dealt with addiction in, you know, multiple
ways.
And, you know, thankfully they did get clean, but it's difficult because you watch them
(10:22):
change in a way because they're not only the things they do change, but the way they act
change because, you know, when you're addicted to something, you want it all the time.
And if you don't get it, you know, you can get aggressive or angry more often or, you
know, things like that, which can lead to a lot of issues within the relationships that
(10:45):
you have with people or also your, like your occupation or your future, like careers, or
even like just to get like houses and stuff because it can lead your actions to take a
toll in a way.
Okay.
Thank you for that.
So that was our first podcast.
(11:06):
Again, I'm Layla.
And I'm Carly.
And we go South Milwaukee Middle School and this is our first podcast and we'll see you
on our next one.
Welcome back to the Stake for Breakfast podcast.
My name is Ian and we will be talking about vaping and fentanyl.
With me today are Trevor and Brandon.
The first thing we will be talking about are physical and mental impacts.
(11:30):
Vaping and fentanyl are both very similar.
Vaping and fentanyl can both destroy your body, like parts of your lungs, your heart,
your nose, your throat, and your mouth.
And they can both kill you.
Vaping and fentanyl both have many mental impacts, like they both can destroy your brain
(11:52):
and make you go crazy.
Trevor, what is addiction?
Addiction happens very fast.
If you take a very small dose of any drug, you can get addicted and lose family, friends,
jobs, and even your life if you overdose.
Ian, why do people get addicted?
(12:12):
People get addicted because they either think it's cool or because it eases stress or pain
and they think it's a good way to help.
Trevor, how do people get drugs?
The market people.
They market it as safe for money and then other people buy it and illegally trade it
(12:32):
with other people for money.
Brandon, why do these people sell the drugs?
They do it for money and they don't care what the people do with it.
Don't do drugs.
Thank you for listening to the Steak for Breakfast podcast.
Well, that's the end of our episode.
(12:53):
Thanks for listening to the SME Podcast.
I hope that those insights, I found myself reading between the lines and like how do
these children really think about these things and I came away with a good message.
I hope you did too.
Thanks for listening and we will see you next time.
Welcome to the SMOA podcast.
(00:06):
I'm your host, Daniel Bader, communication coordinator for the school district of South
Milwaukee.
Last month, something pretty cool happened at South Milwaukee Middle School.
It was National Red Ribbon Week, which if you're not familiar, like I wasn't, Red Ribbon
Week is when in health, well for us as our health class, students learn about the dangers
(00:31):
of drugs and drug addiction.
Health students in the middle school, eighth grade, middle classes were given a list of
projects they could do around this Red Ribbon Week.
Some students made posters, informational posters that they hung around the school.
(00:52):
One group of students that we did a video on went out and tied red ribbons around the
campus to promote awareness of the week and convince, not it wasn't hard, but convinced
our secretaries to turn the sign out front of the school to recognize Red Ribbon Week.
And everyone wore red on a specific day in the middle school.
(01:16):
But two groups of students chose to do a podcast, which comes to the point of today's episode.
What you're going to hear next are those projects that the students submitted for their work.
And while that's cool, and this is a podcast and I want to promote those things, the content
(01:38):
is fantastic.
Like hearing these children speaking frankly to each other and reflecting their knowledge
and the relationships that they've gained back at each other to really kind of gives
you a sense of where their minds are when we talk about this.
So here they are back to back are the two podcasts submitted by our eighth graders.
(02:03):
Hope you enjoy them.
I did.
I'm Layla and I'm Carly and we go to South Milwaukee Middle School and this is our first
podcast.
On our podcast, we're talking about ways to say no to negative influences.
And talking about addiction and alcoholism.
(02:27):
So she's going to interview me about my topic, which is peer pressure.
And then she's going to interview me on my topic about addiction and alcoholism.
So let's get started.
So I have a few questions for you.
Okay.
What, in your opinion, are examples of peer pressure?
Like what do you think of when you hear peer pressure?
(02:47):
When I hear peer pressure, it's like an example of like everyone else is doing it, so I will
do it too.
And like another example is, well, the reasons why people do peer pressure is because they
don't want to feel embarrassed or they won't be liked by certain people.
And they just want to impress certain people or they want to be part of a certain friend
(03:10):
group area or stuff like that.
And peer pressure might look like doing or saying things that people are not comfortable
with, like making a joke of someone or like just doing weird things again that you're
not comfortable with.
And yeah.
Do you have any personal experiences with peer pressure?
(03:34):
Not many that I can ever off the top of my head, but there are some experience where
I have like joked around with people and it wasn't like a funny joke, stuff like that,
but nothing with drugs or alcohol or anything like that.
And I think another example of peer pressure is if people might think if you don't do peer
(03:55):
pressure, it can resolve to bullying, social media, rumors, stuff like that.
And I feel like most of this stuff happens during middle school, high school, kind of,
because then at your school, you're not really thinking about this stuff.
But in middle school, friends start becoming more a part of your life and stuff like that.
And same thing with high school.
(04:16):
Do you have any examples of what you might be pressured into doing or saying?
Some people might be doing like stuff of like sexual stuff like that, which is something
that like is very uncomfortable for a lot of people.
Maybe alcohol, drugs, or it could be something as simple as bullying someone or something
(04:38):
like that.
Okay.
Last question.
What are some ways to cope with peer pressure?
I think some ways to cope with peer pressure is definitely talking to someone about it.
Like someone that you trust or a trusted adult and they can help you find new peers.
They can help you find new friends, get that friend like out, like away from you and you
(05:02):
don't have to deal with them anymore.
And yeah.
But I think another way is change the people you hang around with.
If your friends are telling you to do certain things, then they're not really your friends.
What if it's more like an adult or someone like a family member or someone who has more
of like an authority over you?
(05:22):
I think that you should, if you have any like friends, you can talk to their parents and
their parents might have something to help you do with that.
Or you can talk to a teacher or a principal or some adult at school.
They can also get you help on how to do like, they'll give you options on like what stuff
you can do.
(05:42):
Okay.
And I think another idea is it's not always good to like lie.
It's like lie.
Sometimes obviously people lie, but in like a situation, if that gets you out of a situation
that you're not comfortable with being in or whatever, then you can lie about it.
And I think it's a good time for you to lie about that stuff.
(06:04):
And I got all this information off of peer pressure, Galen Context.
All right.
Those are all my questions.
Okay.
Now that we did my part, we're going to do her part now.
Okay.
So the first question that I have for you is how do you think people get addicted so
badly?
Well, I think at first all, there's like two main ways that people, you know, start drinking
(06:27):
or taking drugs or, you know, smoking, vaping, any of that like sort of thing.
It's usually because of two things, either, you know, peer pressure, like you were talking
about.
Like, for example, you could be at like a party or with some friends and they're like,
you know, like, I'll take this or do this.
You know, like, it's cool.
Like it's fine.
(06:47):
You know, like do it like come on.
Or it could be more of like a mental thing where you try it because you might be going
through a lot or you struggle with depression, anxiety, you know, other mental illnesses
or just other like disorders too that could, you know, make your life harder.
(07:09):
And a big part about all of those things like alcohol or drugs or anything, it releases
a chemical in your brain that I read an article that it's called serotonin and it's a happy
chemical that you will let your body releases and those things like alcohol and drugs and
(07:33):
vaping and everything, it releases that.
And it's also a way of coping.
It helps you feel calm in a sort of way, but it's more short term and then long term.
It leads to other things, right, which leads to like, you know, alcoholism and addiction.
Okay.
So before I get into the next question, I have another question for you.
(07:55):
Can you explain what alcoholism is?
Yeah, it's basically like being an alcoholic, but to like a higher extent, it's like a,
it's like a disease, like a chronic disease.
It's like in which a person, it like you crave alcohol, but it's like uncontrollable.
Like you can't control, you're unable to control like your drinking and like how much you drink.
(08:23):
Like you just want it, you crave it.
Okay, great explanation.
All right.
The next question I have for you is how do you think addiction can change you or your
life so much?
Well, for example, with alcoholism, because you're unable to control it and you crave
it so much, it can, like alcohol in general or just drugs, they lead to a lot of health
(08:46):
risks.
For example, liver damage, heart damage, or like brain damage even, which could like later
soon turn into like a risk of even death.
And along with it can cause you to have high blood pressure or low sugars in your blood
(09:08):
and things like that, which like again, later turn into, you know, things that are more
high risk like death or, you know, other things like that.
Or just, you know, like regular, like, you know, how vapes and like cigarettes can cause
cancer and things like that.
And I think that plays a big part in getting clean when you are addicted because after
(09:32):
a certain point, your body starts to depend on it for either that chemical or other things,
because you're taking it so often that you're not only you need it mentally, but your body
starts to crave it, not just you, like in the headspace.
And that makes it hard to get clean because you, you know, you start to have those health
risks if you keep doing it, but then you have those, you can get sick if you stop after
(09:57):
a certain point.
Yeah.
And that can also lead to death.
Yeah.
I have another question.
Have you like ever dealt with like a family member or a friend that dealt with something
like this before?
Yeah.
A few, a few family members in the past have dealt with addiction in, you know, multiple
ways.
And, you know, thankfully they did get clean, but it's difficult because you watch them
(10:22):
change in a way because they're not only the things they do change, but the way they act
change because, you know, when you're addicted to something, you want it all the time.
And if you don't get it, you know, you can get aggressive or angry more often or, you
know, things like that, which can lead to a lot of issues within the relationships that
(10:45):
you have with people or also your, like your occupation or your future, like careers, or
even like just to get like houses and stuff because it can lead your actions to take a
toll in a way.
Okay.
Thank you for that.
So that was our first podcast.
(11:06):
Again, I'm Layla.
And I'm Carly.
And we go South Milwaukee Middle School and this is our first podcast and we'll see you
on our next one.
Welcome back to the Stake for Breakfast podcast.
My name is Ian and we will be talking about vaping and fentanyl.
With me today are Trevor and Brandon.
The first thing we will be talking about are physical and mental impacts.
(11:30):
Vaping and fentanyl are both very similar.
Vaping and fentanyl can both destroy your body, like parts of your lungs, your heart,
your nose, your throat, and your mouth.
And they can both kill you.
Vaping and fentanyl both have many mental impacts, like they both can destroy your brain
(11:52):
and make you go crazy.
Trevor, what is addiction?
Addiction happens very fast.
If you take a very small dose of any drug, you can get addicted and lose family, friends,
jobs, and even your life if you overdose.
Ian, why do people get addicted?
(12:12):
People get addicted because they either think it's cool or because it eases stress or pain
and they think it's a good way to help.
Trevor, how do people get drugs?
The market people.
They market it as safe for money and then other people buy it and illegally trade it
(12:32):
with other people for money.
Brandon, why do these people sell the drugs?
They do it for money and they don't care what the people do with it.
Don't do drugs.
Thank you for listening to the Steak for Breakfast podcast.
Well, that's the end of our episode.
(12:53):
Thanks for listening to the SME Podcast.
I hope that those insights, I found myself reading between the lines and like how do
these children really think about these things and I came away with a good message.
I hope you did too.
Thanks for listening and we will see you next time.
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