Two Gulf Shores students selected as Red Ribbon Student Leaders

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Virginia Guy, executive director of the Drug Education Council recognized Gulf Shores City School’s Red Ribbon Student Leaders, Claire Colvin and Zach Shoemaker during the May 25 city council meeting.

Red Ribbon week is celebrated each fall across America to promote the importance of a healthy drug free lifestyle among our youth. In our local community, 162 students, one from every k-12 school in Baldwin and Mobile counties, are selected to be their superintendents’ Red Ribbon Student Leader.

“These 162 students serve as role models and lead Red Ribbon Week activities for their peers. Then they are challenged to design and implement a community service project to be carried out during the school year. Because of this program, thousands of dollars have been donated to local charities and hundreds of hours of service have been performed,” Guy said.

A committee picked the top 15 service projects to receive special recognition. Two of the top 15 are from Gulf Shores City Schools.

Claire Colvin, recognized that staying home due to covid caused of her fellow students to struggling to reach their reading goals. Using her leadership position as the director of the Dolphin News Network, she created “Page Flippers” and recruited student athletes to create multiple videos reading children’s books on the Gulf Shores Middle School YouTube channel. This allowed students at home to keep up with their reading assignments during this challenging year.

Zach Shoemaker interviewed former professional football players and asked how alcohol and drugs impacted their careers and lives. He created a video that was widely distributed on social media to encourage people his age to avoid alcohol and drugs to be successful in life. He used the slogan “So No, Go Pro.”