Medfield High School Students Leaders in Prevention

Medfield High School Students Leaders in Prevention

This past week, Medfield had strong student representation at the 31st Annual Community Anti-Drug Coalition (CADCA) National Leadership Forum.

Students were invited to apply for a scholarship to attend the Forum and ten outstanding applicants were selected. The CADCA Forum brought together over 2,500 coalition members, government leaders, youth, prevention specialists, treatment professionals, recovery advocates, education institutions, law enforcement professionals, researchers, and faith-based leaders from across the country to learn the latest strategies to fight substance misuse and hear from prevention experts, federal administrators, and policymakers.

Selected Students were Adelaide “Addie” Gardiner, Audrey Callahan, Chloe Hunt, Ella Kidd, Eva O'Toole, Katherine Waters, Leandro “Leo” Romo, Pranit Shah,Sophia Slesar and Thayer “Tay” Frankel.

Also in attendance were Meri Haas, Substance Use Prevention Coordinator for Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP); Kathy McDonald, Medfield Outreach Director; and Liz Sandeman, Medfield resident, parent, and long-standing member of the coalition.

Students who attended learned about leadership skills, public speaking, brain science, building coalition capacity, substance misuse during the pandemic, refusal strategies, marijuana and vaping facts vs. fiction, prevention messaging, logic models, prevention, intervention and action planning.

Here’s a small sample of what some of the student attendees shared:

• ‘I learned about how mental health and substance abuse are often difficult to differentiate”
• "One thing I'm excited to bring back to the community is definitely the conversation about diversion programs."
• “It is interesting how, even though this is a leadership conference, everything is circulated around working with others as a group."
• "I learned that driving with marijuana in your system is just as dangerous as drinking and driving."

MCAP, an initiative of the Medfield Foundation, is administered by Medfield Outreach, and comprised of people who live and work in the Medfield community. Members care about the well-being of Medfield youth and the health of our community.

MCAP’s mission is to reduce youth substance use, promote healthy decisions, and build a culture of safety in Medfield. This community coalition has broad representation of parents, youth, businesses, schools, healthcare professionals, private organizations, and public agencies.

This coalition is open to the public. Youth are welcome!

If you are interested in the work MCAP is doing, or would like to attend a coalition meeting, please contact Meri Haas at mhaas@medfield.net or Medfield Outreach at Medfieldoutreach@medfield.net.

This work has been made possible by a Drug-Free Communities grant awarded to MCAP in 2019 in the amount of $625,000 over five years, by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).