Monday, October 03, 2005 | Teachers and students at Roosevelt Middle School beat on pots, pans and drums with a little help from The Crew on Wednesday as the finale to a week-long, anti-drug awareness campaign.
The Crew, a San Diego-based performance art group, delivered an anti-drug message while entertaining students with a rowdy, percussion-driven stage show based on the well-known theatrical production “STOMP.”
San Diego-native Chris Rubio, a performer in the national touring production of STOMP, founded The Crew and helps direct their performances when he’s in town.
Rubio said he became interested in the anti-drug campaign because he wanted to give back to the community.
“I’m only off for four days, and after that it’s back to Amarillo, Texas for ‘STOMP.’ But this is important to me. I’ve been drug-free my whole life and I want to raise awareness,” said Rubio.
Performers in The Crew use pots, pans, sticks, buckets, garbage cans – just about any everyday object – as percussion instruments. Crew members stomp, tap-dance and call-out to the audience for participation.
Roosevelt students volunteered to go on stage and drum with the Crew, and a Roosevelt teacher bravely showed off some of her dance moves.
The rally, which coincided with the national Red Ribbon Week campaign, focused on keeping the school a safe haven from drugs, violence and bullies.
“It was cool. I thought it was cool,” said 13-year-old Desiree Havird about The Crew’s performance.
Throughout the week, teachers and students engaged in activities designed to promote awareness and education on the harmfulness of drugs, smoking and school violence.
Students were given red Roosevelt Safe Zone bracelet bands to wear in support of the program, and many were wearing the bands at The Crew’s performance.
The Safe Zone program, which Roosevelt has been participating in for three years, continues throughout the school year to discourage campus violence.
The school’s 1,100 students are encouraged to talk to adults about bullying and violence and there are anonymous drop-boxes on campus for kids to report incidents.
“We want the kids to know that adults are listening and that they care,” said Jana Holsenback, the school’s program coordinator.
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