Morrin School has seen provincial attention after a video released last week on the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) Facebook page.
The video, which was filmed in December, shows how the Morrin School Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) Chapter made hand drawn liquor bags which were distributed to local stores in Drumheller to share the dangers of drinking and driving.
“They really wanted to highlight the whole process because a lot of people don’t understand there is the contest involved with it so the bags they are getting in the liquor stores aren’t necessarily the ones that are being entered into this contest,” said Reach Wellness Worker and SADD Chapter advisor Katie Suntjens.
Featured in the video are Suntjens, Grade 12 students Mesha Olson and Vannessa Richmond, and Grade 4 student Reid Macfarlane.
“When I showed the video to Mesha and Vannessa, they were really impressed and shocked at how good of quality the video was because they themselves weren’t sure what it was actually going to turn into,” she said.
Morrin holds the largest SADD Chapter in the province. Suntjens credits the strength of the program to continuous interaction between younger and older students.
“We always ask “Oh, do you know who these kids are?” and they are like “Oh yeah, that’s so and so, she rides on my bus. I’m like “Okay but do you know what group they are in the school?” and they all know they are in the SADD Chapter. By the time those kids get into Grade 7 and they are able to join SADD, they already have that foundation about what types of activities they are going to be doing. That’s what has helped make our chapter a little bit more sustainable.”
The school community wasn’t sure what they were getting into in the beginning.
“They wanted a school that they knew was active in the campaign and SADD has a tendency to contact our group because they know we are really active. Of course we jumped on it and in December they came out twice. They filmed the interviews and the decorating part where we were in the classrooms doing the workshops with the elementary students,” said Suntjens.
The no drinking and driving campaign began roughly 10 years ago where it annually begins in September and ends in May.
“This year we produced a video to capture the spirit and heartfelt energy and to share with Albertans the magic of the SADD One Million Liquor Bags program,” The AGLC Facebook post attached to the video read.
Grade 11 student Portia Miller of W.R. Myers High School in Taber won the overall contest where her bag design has been printed 1 million times and distributed across Alberta starting this past May long weekend.
“I think that this campaign specifically is so important because it involves so many different age groups so it isn’t necessarily the ones who are driving, it’s going to filter out to the ones that are purchasing the alcohol in a store and it’s also connecting to the younger ones who are decorating the bags. It’s more of a visual reminder not to drink and drive. A lot of the stuff that is out there is very much just messaging focused so they don’t really have that image to connect everything.
On the bags, it tells you what school the bag was decorated in.
“So when they see that they might think about people and kids who they know in that school so then it impacts them a little bit more.”