A regular visitor to eighth-grade classrooms at Perry County Middle School is connecting with students about things they love — music, memes, food, fashion — to help them make safe choices.
Whitney Hemman, a prevention specialist with Perry County Community Task Force, visits community time classrooms weekly to lead discussions on topics including substance abuse prevention and mental health. On a recent visit, the discussion started with the meaning of success and ended with a reflection on how drug and alcohol abuse can end any chance of success.
Hemman asked students what being successful meant to the students. Replies included living out one’s dreams, achieving goals, earning money, becoming famous, having a family and children, and “having a long and happy life.” She noted that people can encounter many challenges to achieving success, including using drugs. She talked about the relationship between drugs and pop culture, and the prevalence of drug abuse among celebrities.
“What’s the 27 Club?” she asked. “It’s a group of musicians who all died at age 27,” a student replied. “Yes! Lots of musicians have died from overdoses or suicide when they were 27 years old,” Hemman replied. This list includes Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, and Kurt Cobain, all who lived long before these students were born. “But now there’s the 21 Club; what do you think that means?” The students then spoke about American rapper and songwriter Juice WRLD, who died in 2019 from an accidental overdose at age 21.
Hemman, who shares a love of rap music with her students, read the lyrics to “Wishing Well.” The students noted that JuiceWRLD was telling the world he needed help to fight addiction. In the song, the rapper acknowledges that he will die if he doesn’t stop using prescription pain medications, including the opioid oxycodone.
Then she asked the students if they thought Juice WRLD was successful. Students agreed that the rapper was rich, had done work he loved, and was still famous. “So that’s one kind of success, right?” Hemman asked. “Do you think he enjoyed success?” The students stressed that no one would enjoy becoming an addict and that the rapper’s lyrics revealed great stress and sadness. “He was scared,” one student said. “He thought drugs were willing him,” another said. They talked about “Lace it,” a Juice WRLD song featuring Eminem (Hemman read the “clean” version of the lyrics), in which the older rapper was telling younger people that he beat addiction and warned against substance abuse.
As the lesson ended, students shared how their definition of success had changed. “You don’t want to die young because of drugs,” one student said. Another added, “Even if you have millions of dollars, you won’t enjoy it if drugs are making you hurt.”
Hemman’s experience as an educator shows in her lessons. “I taught first and second grade for nine years before joining Perry County Community Task Force five years ago,” she said. “I was excited about working with older students but wasn’t sure exactly how that would look. I realized that I just had to learn what middle-schoolers are interested in and share what they care about to make lessons that would click with them. I love our activities and that moment when they really get it, when that connection is made. That’s what I love.”