This year’s 2019 Red Ribbon Week winners have finally been determined.  The winners were determined after tallying up the number of students who dressed up in their first period classes.  

The first place winners include Mrs. Sassinsky’s day five class, Dr. Lewis’ day six class, Mr. Kovnat’s day one class, Mr. Killion’s day two class and Dr. Lewis’ day three class.

The second place winners include Ms. Nicolazzo and Ms. Simeonides day five classes, Ms. Orlando’s day six class, Mr. Locke’s and Ms. Shine’s day one classes, Ms. Cunningham’s day two class and Ms. Perez’s and Ms. Hildebrand’s day three classes.

Finally, the third place winners include Ms. Perez’s day five class, Ms. Perez’s day six class, Ms. Sassinsky’s day one class, Ms. Donaldson’s day two class and Ms. Bloch’s and Ms. DeWitt’s day three classes.

The winning classes for day five will receive multi-colored bracelets with anti-drug messages. The day six winners will receive these bracelets, in addition to lollipops printed with “HAPPY TO BE DRUG FREE.” Winners from day one, two and three will earn light-up pens saying “EAST 2019 Prevention Week.”

During the morning announcements, on November 11th, day one, day five and day six winners will be recognized. However, the day two winners will be recognized on November 12th and day three winners will be recognized on November 13th.

“There is [definitely] some competitiveness within the teachers.  They all want to have the students dress up, so they can [receive] some prizes,” said Mrs. DiStefano, the funding organizer for Red Ribbon Week.

The dress up days took place from October 28th to November 1st, and the themes were determined by the Athletes Against Bullying club.  The first theme was “Don’t Sleep on the Effects of Drugs.” On this day, students were encouraged to wear pajamas to school. The next theme was “Team Up Against Drugs and Violence.”  All students were supposed to wear a sports jersey on this day. The next day’s theme was “Black Out Vaping.” All students were expected to come to school in black clothing. The second to last day was themed, “Treats not Tricks.” To support this theme, students were instructed to wear Halloween costumes. Finally, on “Show your East Pride,” dressing in East apparel was encouraged.  This year’s student involvement was impressive.

“We had maybe two or three days [of] full participation in a couple of the classes…That’s probably the first year I saw full participation,” said DiStefano.

Red Ribbon Week is funded annually by the director of Municipal Alliance, Pamela Geller. With this money, DiStefano can purchase prizes to incentivize participation. 

“The whole month is a prevention month,” said DiStefano.

Starting with Respect Week from October 7th to the 11th, October is all about promoting a positive lifestyle for students in the Cherry Hill community. According to DiStefano, Red Ribbon Week has occurred for roughly 20 years at Cherry Hill schools.

Cherry Hill East had a very successful Red Ribbon Week and hopes the participation numbers continue to rise.