When parental lectures about alcohol and drugs just don't work...

Daily Eqyptian

By Geoffrey Ritter of the Daily Eqyptian

When parental lectures about alcohol and drugs just don't work...

Daily Eqyptian

Geoffrey Ritter- Daily Eqyptian

There's a point, Larry Karl says, when parental lectures about alcohol and drugs just don't work anymore. Kids don't want to hear it. And besides, they're too busy listening to N'Sync tunes on the radio to care about anything a parent might have to say.

There's a one-word solution to the problem, though: MWAH!

MWAH! - an acronym for Messages Which Are Hopeful, and judging by the reactions of the hundreds of area high school students who crowded into the Student Center ballrooms for a peek at MWAH! Tuesday morning, these hopeful messages are sinking in.

Made up of youth from all around Chicago, MWAH! is a live theater group that travels throughout the state, spreading a message through skit and song that encourages students to accept diversity and denounce drugs and alcohol. And yes, the performers mix in a little N'Sync too adults just stand up and talk to kids, the kids sometimes zone out," said
Karl, whose son, 15-year-old Mike, was one of six performers Tuesday. "This is teens talking to teens. And since they are the ones preaching these messages over and over, they stay focused themselves." Teens counseling each other is not a new idea by any means, but the format of MWAH! pushes the envelope a bit.

Instead of the usual methods of peer counseling, MWAH! shoots for a more entertaining format, mixing comedic skits with song-and-dance numbers. During Tuesday's hour-long performance, the crowd of students was frequently up on its feet, cheering and hollering.

Mike Karl, a high school student from Naperville, says the troupe helps the performers as much as it does the audience,"The audience definitely gets a positive message and a focus from this."
Karls said "It helps me too - I probably still wouldn't do drugs and alcohol if I wasn't doing this - but it is a reinforcement."