Welcome back, teachers, administrators, school resource officers, community health leaders, and Young Marines Commanders! We hope your summer breaks included lots of much-needed, well-deserved downtime. For the staff at Project ALERT, we were busy with preparations for fall. Project ALERT launches our biggest refresh of curriculum and resources in over a decade!
- Updated Curriculum and Teacher Manuals
- Refined and New Classrooms Materials
- New Instructional Videos
- New Tailored Services
- Redesigned and Updated Website
One of the most compelling features of Project ALERT is high-quality videos showing how teens respond in drug pressure situations. Over the summer, we refreshed all the scenario videos where teens face temptations to use marijuana and vape. The videos offer multiple endings depicting the key refusal skills Project ALERT teaches: simply say no, give a reason, and stand up to pressure.
In addition to the refreshed instructional videos, there is a new mini-movie, titled CHOICES, about a house party caving in on itself when substances start appearing.
The scenario video Pot or Not, shown in Project ALERT Core Lesson 7, and the mini-movie, CHOICES, include the music of Heart’s Barracuda played by a young band (all real musicians hailing from the School of Rock, Venice, in Los Angeles) getting their very first gig at the house party. They rocked!
Through the many years and iterations of Project ALERT, our focus remains: equipping teachers to educate students about the risks and consequences of substance use and highlight the benefits of non-use. The only “special interest groups” we’ve ever associated ourselves with have been teachers and kids; we’ve never taken money from big tobacco, big alcohol, or big pharma. With the completion of this massive update effort, Project ALERT once again solidifies its position as the premier substance use education program for US middle schools.
Let us say once again how grateful we are for our myriad program partners and their invaluable support for over 30 years. Thank you! And may our collective force for good continue!
