Sailors Visit Guam School for Red Ribbon Week

By Jesse Leon Guerrero Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs

CHALAN PAGO, Guam (NNS) -- Sailors from U.S. Naval Hospital Guam (USNH) helped educate students about the dangers of substance abuse at Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary School on Guam Oct. 29.

The command sent the personnel to assist Department of Education teachers and staff in celebrating Red Ribbon Week, a national campaign that educates and encourages youth to live a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle.

"You guys have dreams, you want to do something," said Lt. Martin Casarez, a physical therapist from the hospital, to a fourth-grade class. "If you're getting in trouble because you're on drugs, that's going to affect your ability to reach your dreams. It doesn't matter whether it's alcohol, whether it's marijuana, whether it's cocaine, or any of those drugs. They're going to affect your process in getting to where your dreams are at."

Hospitalman Apprentice Jordan Ramsdell, also of USNH Guam, shared stories about how marijuana negatively affected students at his high school in his hometown of Portland, Ore. Ramsdell said he wanted to help Ordot-Chalan Pago students avoid that experience.

"We had people making wrong decisions and a couple people paid the ultimate price for it," Ramsdell said. "It's important that [the students] are educated, and I'm just glad we had the opportunity to come out because I feel very strongly about it."

School officials appreciated the Sailors taking time to educate students.

"With the Navy coming in, the military coming in, it's a different aspect," said Rebecca Perez, the school's principal. "We're hoping the kids get different views, but we're all here for the same reason, which is to say 'no' to drugs."

Perez added that hospital personnel and other Sailors have partnered with the school for years through cleanup projects, tutoring sessions and other volunteer activities. She thanked the Navy for offering students a healthy insight into healthy lifestyle choices and for encouraging them to stay in school.

Red Ribbon Week takes its name from the red campaign ribbons that honor Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in Mexico City, while investigating drug traffickers in 1985.