Sammi Duncan

Sophomore Sammi Duncan works on her video for the PATH program and communicates with her team members virtually.

After her father passed away from lung cancer, sponsor and Physical Education teacher Tommie Rowe knew she needed to honor his memory by educating teens at a younger age about drug prevention. 

“My father died of lung cancer from smoking [at] a very young age. He wasn’t taught about how bad these things are for you, so in my heart, I feel like the more knowledge, the better,” Rowe said.    

Rowe quickly got involved in the Parkway High School Heroes program as a sponsor.

“It’s a very strong program that these kids at a younger age need to know,” Rowe said. 

Fast forward 25 years and Rowe never anticipated having to find a new way to connect and teach middle school students about being drug-free. She and her team of High School Heroes have worked to create a COVID-19 safe lesson via videos about the harmful effect that smoking marijuana, e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes have on the body.

“We’ve given the high school kids more of a leadership role. They make videos of them teaching the lesson, they [will] send it to the teachers and they play the videos for the kids,” Rowe said.

Sophomore Sammi Duncan, a first-year High School Hero, was interested in the High School Heroes program after she saw her sixth-grade camp counselor, alumnus Ashlyn Roesch, as a Hero in her health class.                     

“I wanted to be a positive role model for the younger kids to show them that you don’t need drugs; you can be healthy and still have fun. [I want to] encourage kids to live drug-free lives,” Duncan said.

Although the sessions are virtual, participants think their message will still get across and be impactful for the younger students. She recalls when the High School Heroes brought in a black lung to show kids the effects of smoking. She is aware that they will not be able to do activities like that, but she is committed to making her video count.

“It’s definitely more fun to have the high schoolers there and in person. The middle schoolers are used to Zoom classes now, so it won’t be out of the ordinary for what’s happening now,” Duncan said. “We are going to try to make it fun and entertaining and keep them engaged, but I think part of it’s lost when it’s not done in person.”

Rowe hopes that these videos will be beneficial in the long run and wants the videos to keep the same format but in a virtual setting. She is optimistic that kids will be receptive to the sessions and they will be able to absorb the information given to them about being safe and drug-free.

“Is it going to be different? Yes. The good thing about it is [that] it may be accessible to them after this. They can go home to mom and dad and say, ‘Hey I saw this cool video of these kids at West.’ That might be something, I don’t know if they are doing that yet or not, I’m hoping they do,” Rowe said.

Duncan believes that having student leaders deliver the content builds a deeper connection with the high schoolers than they would with teachers or adults. 

“[Students] get sick of hearing adults. They’ve heard about putting off drugs all through school and programs. It falls on deaf ears when I say it, but when [students] say it, they’re going to be like ‘oh, I know her because of my sister or this friend,’ and I like that,” Rowe said.

According to the High School Heroes website, the secret to the program’s success is the high school students delivering the message.

“If we reach five to six kids then we’re doing a good job because that’s five or six kids that will be drug-free.”