N e w s l e t t e rN e w s l e t t e r

May, 2016

MATFORCE Mission: With determination and integrity, we, the citizens of Yavapai County, commit to working in partnership to build healthier communities by striving to eliminate substance abuse and its effects.

Winning poster by Ashley Wassell

from Big Park School in Sedona.

MATFORCE announces Ashley Wassell, an 11-year old student from Big Park School in Sedona, and Gage Sloniger, a 13-year old student from Mountain View Preparatory School in Cottonwood, are the grand prize winners of the MAT-FORCE 2016 Youth Poster Contest. In honor of their out-standing entries, these winners will each receive a $250 cash award. Winning posters will be featured in MATFORCE sub-stance abuse prevention materials, including posters, in pre-vention workbooks for schools and on the MATFORCE web-site. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office assists with this event. In addition to grand prize, first place winners were select-ed in seven different age categories. First place winners each will receive a $25 gift card. First place winners by category are: Age 5/6 - Jasmine Bryant, American Heritage Academy in Cottonwood; Age 7/8 - Brooklyn Renfroe, Mountain View Elementary School in Prescott Valley; Age 9/10 - Collin Riely Handley, Granite Mountain School in Prescott; Age 11/12 - Kayla Shimko, Granite Mountain Middle School in Prescott; Age 13/14 - Gicel Olivas, Camp Verde High School; Age 15/16 - Usualdo Herrera, Camp Verde High School; and Age 17/18 - Daan Enrique-Mata of Chino Valley. MATFORCE also commends honorable mention winners,

Winning poster by Gage Sloniger from Mountain

View Preparatory School in Cottonwood.

who will receive a $10 gift card: Gage Patrick Jochim, Maven Mestas, Thalia Rocha, Jose Vearla, Camden Stockbridge and Jess Burress of American Heritage Academy in Cottonwood; Naino Misra of Bagdad Schools; Iliana Heitzman of Basis Pres-cott; Ash-Lee Lewis, Stephanie Vanskiner, Pilar Picazo-Valdez, William Schultz, Logan Pratt, Joseph Kowalieyk, AJ Martin, Alyfous Beauty, Sadie Cooper and Malia Rodriguez of Camp Verde High School; Adelina Carenas, Isabel Diane Mares and Phoebe Carnes of Canon School in Black Canyon City; Maken-zie Suercl and Danielle Carter of Cottonwood Middle School; Erin Milvesnich, Savannah Smith, Amanda Lange, Katelyn Walz and Robin Webb of Granite Mountain School in Prescott; Alysah Marin, Raylee Cunningham, Gage Cunningham, Devyn Blackmore and Tylar Blackmore of Hillside Elementary School in Bagdad; Addison Renfroe of Mountain View Elementary School in Prescott Valley; Ryan Tarp of Prescott Valley Char-ter School; Jade Fichera and Sabrina Glancy of Prescott; and Carlos Luna and Nate Umbower of Prescott Valley. Winning posters can be viewed at matforce.org. Beginning in June, winning posters will be displayed throughout Yavapai County in the MATFORCE Youth Poster Contest Road Show. Watch for the upcoming schedule at matforce.org.

MATFORCE Congratulates Youth Poster Contest Winners

Page 2 Issue 73

MATFORCE congratulates winners of its annual video contest. Area youth ages 11 to 18 were invited to let their voices be heard by creating an original short video that makes a positive statement about reducing drug and alcohol abuse. First, second and third place winners were awarded in two categories: middle school and high school. First place win-ners in each category received $300, sec-ond place earned a $200 award and $100 was given to third place winners. Honor-able mention winners received $25. Merilee Fowler, Executive Director, said, “We are so excited to have 27 pow-erful entries in the video contest. The students did a remarkable job expressing the harms and devastation of drug use. It is an honor to recognize their great work.” In the middle school category, first

place was awarded to Trenton Gullikson of Mile High Middle School and Micah Peterson, homeschooled, who are both from Prescott. Second place was awarded to Emmanuel Chaidez and third place was awarded to Lesly Castillo, who are both from Glassford Hill Middle School in Prescott Valley. In the high school category, first place was awarded to Cameron Bloniarz from Mingus Union High School in Cotton-wood. Brett Loroi, Ethan Westling and Zommy Zuhlke, who are also from Min-gus Union, earned second place. Third place was awarded to Team Digital from Camp Verde High School, which includes: Lloyd Foreman, Sam Maynard, Brent Mil-ler, Sam Swick, Nick Daniels, Robert Fafrowicz, Cody Fant, Enrique Garcia, Jeff Glass, Thomas Herrera, Madison John-son, Gage Moya, Jahlin Smith, Sam Villa-

lobos and Nick Westervelt. Honorable mention winners include: Prescott High School PAL Club members Sidney Erdahl, Sydney Dicker, Maddison Pierce, Maddy Thein, Maddy Coury, Isaiah Kaitschuck, and Yahri Greene; Prescott Valley’s Glassford Hill Middle School stu-dents Maria Estrada, Lesly Castillo and Joanna Espinoza; Cottonwood’s Mingus Union High School students Breanna Page, Christina Rodriquez, Sarah Vance, Ean Ganem, Preston Chalmers, Andrew Hite, Elie Abi Hanna, Christyana Fletcher, Stephany Bourne, Lilly Sanchez, Bailey Frank, Aubrey Boulet, Sierra Romero and Sonny DeCrosta. Winning videos will be used by MAT-FORCE at community events and as pub-lic service announcements on TV and radio. The videos can be viewed online at matforce.org.

Congratulations to 2016 Stand With Me, Be Drug Free Video Contest Winners

Newsletter May, 2016

Website: matforce.org Email: matforce@cableone.net Phone: 928-708-0100 Mail: 8056 E Valley Road, Ste. B, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314

Teen Maze 2016

Over 1,400 youth attended Teen Maze in Prescott and Cottonwood.

MATFORCE Invites Students to Join Youth Council

MATFORCE invites Yavapai County students to participate in a youth-led group helping raise awareness about substance abuse risks and issues. Students in grades 5 through 12 are eligible to participate. The group is called the Yavapai County Youth Council or YC2 for short. Kelly Lee, MATFORCE Education Coordinator, said, "This is a fun way for students to have their voices heard about issues related to substance abuse and peer pressure. We value their input and feedback on such an important topic and hope we can instill pride in being MATFORCE's voice of youth." YC2 youth assist with anti-substance abuse projects, media commercials and community events. Students can earn scholarships and receive service hours based upon their participation. Visit matforce.org for the online application. Submittals are due no later than May 15, 2016. Questions? Contact Kelly Lee 928-708-0100 or klee@matforceaz.org.

MATFORCE’s Teen Maze event focused on the harms of marijuana. Using simulation goggles, the students experienced marijuana impairment while "driving" on a simulated street. The activity also showed the effects of marijuana on hand/eye coor-dination when students tried to do a simple task such as catching a ball. Students were also asked, "What percentage of 8th graders do you think smoke marijuana?" The usual answer is about 90%. They are then given the AZ Youth Survey data, which shows that 9% of 8th graders reported using marijuana, which means that 91% DO NOT USE. It makes them think.