2019 Wellness

2019 Wellness Expo LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Thursday, February 21, 2019 Page 25 The morning’s activities began with “Get Up and Move,” which allowed students time to get moving and burn off some energy. Students then went to interactive breakout sessions where they heard from four different speakers about issues they may be facing at their age and into the teen years. Students learn about substance abuse Chris Schaffner spoke to students about substance abuse. He began by asking how many knew someone their age who uses drugs or alcohol and several raised their hands. Schaffner said they would have some hard decisions to make because research shows that in junior high and high school, many experiment with drugs or alcohol. He told kids, “You need to decide if you are going to be one of those people,” and said those people are not bad, they are just making bad choices. Schaffner showed students the animated video “Nugget” with a bird repeatedly eating a substance until eventually becoming addicted. He asked the students what they saw, and they said the bird was using drugs and was soon addicted, just running right to the substance without thinking about it. One student said maybe the bird decided to stop, but by then it was too late because of all the damage done. CONTINUED