The Eyes Wide Open committee, a part of the student council, organized for all students of Lindenhurst High School to attend a presentation on October 26, 2017 all about the choices they make in life and how those choices will affect them now and in the future  The presentation also showed how even the smallest drug use is a gateways to bigger drug usage such as heroin. The committee invited guest speaker, Lamarr Womble, founder of Passion for Leadership, to come and talk with the students about these topics. Lamarr has gone to numerous schools presenting to students all across the nation to educate them about these topics.

The first presentation was held 2nd period for seniors and juniors. The sophomores and freshmen went during 7th and 8th period. It started out with a video created by Eyes Wide Open Committee 2 months before school started. In the video, students were seen having a party a few weeks before school with alcohol, tobacco, and other numerous drugs. As the video went on, students were shown using drugs at some of the district events, such as homecoming. The video ended with another party, where a boy leads a girl, played by Liz Johanson, to the restroom and hands her a syringe and a cloth. Although it was never specified as to what was in the syringe, it can be assumed that it was heroin, which leads to the death of the girl as her friends try to save her and call an ambulance. After the video ended, some of the students from the student council acted out a play showing the funeral of the girl who died, each one thinking to themselves how they could have prevented her death if they had only made the right choice.

Lamarr Womble then took the stage and congratulated the student council on what a good job the students had done creating and planning the whole event. Lamarr then began to speak and interact with the students for the rest of the presentation. At times he was serious and talked about how the choices of today can determine how tomorrow goes and how there is always a person who loves and cares for you even if you don’t feel like it. And at other times during the presentation, he would have fun with the students and play games with them. During the less serious times, he would also do numerous activities with the audience. One activity was to text someone they loved and tell them how they have affected their lives. He also asked everyone to text someone that they were having issues with and to apologize to them and try to make things better. Towards the end of his time, he asked a handful of students to come up and read out loud what they sent and if they received a response, what it was. He thanked everyone for their time and congratulated the student council once more before leaving.

Krishnam Patel, a member of the Eyes Wide Open Committee and the Lindy Cares V.P., said that the goals to educate the school about gateway drugs and the importance of each choice you make went extremely well. His thoughts on Eyes Wide Open are, “It helps Students be educated on the dangers of drug use that is essential to our community.” Liz Johanson, president of the Lindy Cares, called the planning of the event “nerve-racking”, as she knew how important this event would be to school and how important relaying the message properly would be to all the students of Lindenhurst High School. Liz said, “Eyes Wide Open is an important aspect of our school because it promotes that drug problems are real and we need to do something about it… I’m glad we have the ability to share this message with our school.” Students also felt the same way. David Golebiewski, a freshman stated, “The best part of the presentation was the video. It shows that even though you can have fun at parties the bad decisions will ruin everything.” Patrick Lopez, another freshman here in the high school stated, “I believe that the Eyes Wide Open program, along with the Lindy Cares Club has really opened my eyes about… the drug crisis in Lindenhurst.”

Want to watch the video again? Click below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8GXyMpawiA