For many years Extension leaders in Simpson Co. have identified drug education & prevention as a top priority for Extension to address. The Simpson Co. 4-H agent taught Health Rocks to the 6th grade at FSMS for six years. 4-H Health Rocks is a curriculum designed to reduce tobacco, alcohol, and drug use among youth ages 8 to 14. In 2023 the agent and the middle school piloted using three 4-H teens to teach the program. This was a progressive experience and leadership opportunity for the teens. In 2024 six 4-H teens were selected and initially spent 12 hours training with the 4-H agent. They taught two hundred 6th graders over six days (30 hours) in the classroom. Their lessons included facts about tobacco/alcohol/other drug use, tobacco, fatal vision goggles, a health fair with community partners, and stress/goal setting/decision making. To end Health Rocks the teens organized an assembly for the 6^th graders to see first-hand what happens if a student brings marijuana into school, using the Sheriff’s Department & their canine. The assembly also included the school superintendent, school board, school resource officer, and principal addressing the students. The goal of Health Rocks is to reduce youth smoking & tobacco use, help youth build life skills that lead to healthy lifestyle choices, and to engage youth & adults in partnerships to build positive enduring relationships that address & reduce at-risk behaviors of youth. Both 4-H Health Rocks & using 4-H teen teachers has been so successful the program is in its ninth year at FSMS and third year of being taught by teens. In 2024 60% of the students reported gaining knowledge & actively participating in the program and 73% learned what would happen thru the assembly.

Here is what one of the teen teachers had to share regarding her teaching experience, “When I think of how 4-H has impacted me I think of the year I was selected to teach Health Rocks. I went into the classroom with the idea that I was only there to make an impact on the students’ lives. It was not until I reflected back at the end of the program that I realized how big of an impact they actually made on my life. I have been very blessed to grow up in a home with both my parents who care about my future and don’t use drugs. By the third and fourth Health Rocks lessons the students started to open up about their lives. Many of them had family members who abused drugs and alcohol. Some didn’t have a parent or older sibling to look up to. So as teens, we had to step up and be the role model for some of these students. Our job was to show them compassion, understand their position, and equip them with the knowledge, facts, & skills to make their own decisions. The impact that I was able to have on their lives helped me to realize that I want to be able to impact more people through 4-H.” Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world!” "This quote truly displays the impact that 4-H has made on my life. 4-H has helped me to build a foundation of life skills. I am extremely grateful for the impact 4-H has made on me and the impact I am able to make on others through 4-H."