MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Students at the Academy of Arts, Science and Technology are getting involved in the fight to end the drug epidemic by creating Public Service Announcements (PSA).
Members of the group, Wake Up Carolina, challenged students in the Web and Digital Communications major to create posters focused on addiction prevention.
“You’ve helped us along the way in making change and that’s very inspiring,” said Lisa Mitchell, of Wake Up Carolina, during their class on Monday morning.
The students’ posters were judged and winners were selected for the following categories: Kindergarten-5th grade, 6-12th grade and the community as a whole.
However, the assignment was personal for many students in the class.
“My grandmother actually was a strong drug user,” said winner and 12th-grade student, Clayton Becker. “I never wanted to be around her because of how addicted she was to it.”
He focused his poster on the impacts addiction has on families and said the personal connection to the disease made the assignment more difficult.
“It brought back the memories of me when I was younger not wanting to be around her,” he added. “She’d go take drugs and come back and she’ll be a completely different person.”
Luckily, Becker’s grandmother got clean and now he loves spending time with her.
Another winner, Lexi Lyndon, is also familiar with the epidemic and focused her poster on a younger demographic.
“I’ve grown up around drug use a lot in my life, and I feel like it’s very important to learn it very early on because once you’re in it, you’re just in it really deep,” said Lyndon.
Wake Up Carolina plans to use the students’ posters to spread awareness and hope. Winners received an award valued at $50.
