ASAP Youth Ambassadors encourage peers to be safe, sober on Prom Night

This time of year, high school students are looking forward to those wonderful milestone moments like prom and graduation. Regrettably, these milestones can sometimes go hand in hand with tragedy when mixed with drugs or alcohol, a press release said.

ASAP of Anderson Youth Ambassadors Coalition (YAC) are encouraging their peers to be safe and sober on prom night, the press release said. The ASAP YAC is made up of students from Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge high schools. Students designed posters that will hang throughout their schools in the coming weeks before prom to remind students they can “choose their fate.” This message corresponds with ASAP’s #IAMONE campaign. The campaign encourages youth to declare #IAMONE who will not use drugs or alcohol, the press release said.

On a typical prom weekend, 40 percent of traffic-related deaths among 15- to 20-year olds involve alcohol, and underage drinking sends more than 190,000 teens to the emergency room each year. Furthermore, underage drinking kills six times as many teens as all other illicit drugs combined, the press release said.

ASAP of Anderson partners with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, who provides funding to support the #IAMONE campaign. Students attending the prom next week will get to participate in a photo booth and also receive a sober prom reminder when they are leaving the event including a keychain and free dessert card donated by Chick-fil-A Oak Ridge.

For more information about the #IAMONE campaign, contact ASAP of Anderson at (865) 457-3007 or visit www.ASAPofAnderson.org. Follow @ASAPofAnderson on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.