The NewsTribune
December 06, 2008
Putnam County eighth-grade and high school students heard warnings Thursday
By Shannon Crawley-Serpette
Putnam-Marshall Bureau ChiefMWAH! Performing Arts Troupe performed Thursday at Putnam County High School in Granville. MWAH!, which stands for Messages Which Are Hopeful, addressed hot topics such as child abuse, consequences of teenage bullying, cyber bullying, violence, drugs and alcohol. MWAH!’s performance at the high school was made possible by the Bureau-Putnam County Health Department, Communities Against Substance Abuse Coalition, the Putnam County School District and the Putnam County Educational Foundation. The 13-member MWAH! ensemble, who range in age from 9 to 18, live in Plainfield, Naperville, Aurora, Downers Grove, Romeoville, Cherry Valley, and Rockford.
GRANVILLE — Putnam County eighth-grade and high school students heard warnings Thursday at the high school in Granville about the dangers of violence, hatred, drugs and alcohol.
MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe performed skits, dances and songs for the students, many of which centered on heavy topics — child abuse, race, teenage bullying, the massacres at Virginia Tech University and Northern Illinois University, cyber bullying and teenage deaths caused by drinking.
The songs brought the students to their feet for light-hearted dancing and clapping, but the message given by MWAH! was clear: Make good choices.
Putnam County Sheriff Kevin Doyle attempted to reinforce that message during his brief speech.
Before Doyle spoke, MWAH! performers discussed the alcohol-related deaths of five Oswego teens in 2007.
“I don’t need to go to Oswego to see this,” Doyle told the crowd when he took the stage.
Many young individuals in the county have died over the years because of accidents, many of which involved alcohol, he said.
“You’re all old enough for me to make this statement: We’ll bury more than one or two of you because of poor choices,” Doyle said.
He said he hopes the students prove him wrong about that statement.
“In training we learn if it’s predictable, a lot of the time it’s preventable,” Doyle said.
Doyle described having to go to the door in the middle of the night to deliver messages about fatalities, at times to people he knows well.
“I deliver death messages. I’ve done more than one,” he said.
School employee Tricia Both told the students that she and other staff members try to help them make the right decisions in their lives, but ultimately, the students are the ones who must make those decisions.
The high school honored four students, seniors Pete Ladage, Anthony Ahlers, Lora Ossola and Jenna Hansen, who have made good choices, calling them “heroes.” The students were then serenaded by members of the MWAH! troupe.
(photo by Craig Serrett, news editor of the NewsTribune of the La Salle-Peru area of north-central Illinois)
