The Clinton County Extension Office has been putting on the Truth & Consequences event for 10 years and with every year the program reaches more people. The success of the program can be directly linked to the hard work from community partners as well as the work put in from the county extension office.

Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences Christy Nuetzman spearheads the project every year and it gets bigger and bigger with every event.

The goal of the Truth & Consequences is to reach the youth in the county and make them more aware of substance abuse along with the facts and consequences of substance abuse.

Every year Nuetzman collaborates with community partners to include law enforcement, jailers, pharmacists and everyone in between.

“I think Friday went very well … probably the best we have ever done,” Nuetzman said. “I think the change of venue helped. It was good for the students because we could have small groups and I added some additional sessions for the students.”

In previous years, the T&C had been held at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. This year, the event was held at Stony Point Baptist Church.

“We were able to control a lot more at the new location. I feel like we had more community partners there. What we want is for those students to get that impact through the scenarios. You could tell just by facial expressions that some of the students were really getting into the role,” Nuetzman said. “They were really trying to think things through and realize what the true conscience would be for them.”

As with any community project, reflection on this year’s event could pose ideas or modifications to future events in order to make the most of the events.

“We will look at all of our evaluations and we will probable do some continued follow up with those students sometime in class,” Nuetzman said. “Maybe next year we can go back and survey them as sophomores. We want to see what they can tell us about their youth and what they know about the risk and harm associated with different substances.”

Nuetzman said the program is geared toward freshmen at Clinton County High School mainly because the students are transitioning from middle school to high school.

“We know they almost have a year behind them, but there are a lot of youth activities coming up in which we see substance use and substance use tends to increase this time of year,” Nuetzman said. “To make them aware of the consequences on this side of the choice is what we are going for with this program.”

Also on Friday, as a part of the T&C event, a mock accident was held and it also involved some of the students on hand to give them a fresh perspective on the consequences of substance use.

“Junior Cecil helped put that together and Kentucky State Police Officer Jason Warinner was the law enforcement officer in the mock disaster,” Nuetzman said. “That was one part you could really start to see a lot of the emotion out of the kids. It really did make a difference for some of them. Overall I think it made an impact on the group. It captures adult attention also.”

Nuetzman said there were anywhere from 30-45 community partners on hand Friday to help with the T&C. She said the reason she has such great support from the community partners is because they see a need for substance abuse awareness in the community.

“Judge Scarlett Latham makes sure she can come every year,” Nuetzman said. “She wants to get through to the kids before she has to see them in a more realistic situation. We couldn’t do it without all the community partners. The time, expertise and the concern they have for those kids is great.”

During the T&C event, students are split up into three groups. While two of the groups are participating in group awareness situations, one group has individual participation where a community partner serves as a guide. Each student is given a piece of paper with a scenario listed on it. Depending on what that scenario is will send the students to one or more different tables where community partners are set up to show students the consequences of substance abuse.

“We were fortunate this year to have some of the parents of freshmen students there to participate with us,” Nuetzman said.

The program was incorporated into the Extension Program at the University of Kentucky after it was copyrighted in 2010. Nuetzman said the program has really taken off in recent years.

“We’ve really seen other counties pick up this program,” Nuetzman said. “This is something every county and every community is affected by. There isn’t one community throughout the state that doesn’t struggle. The substance may change and the age at which it happens, but we are all affected by it.”

Recently, Nuetzman received an award for the program as she was one of three members of the University of Kentucky School of Human Environmental Sciences to be nominated. She was named as one of the recipients of the school’s prestigious Patricia Brantley Todd Awards of Excellence.

The biannual awards recognize individuals within the school, which is part of the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

In addition to the honor that goes along with being named a recipient, Nuetzman also received $1,000.

The awards are named for Todd, a school alumna and wife of former UK president Lee T. Todd, Jr. The Todds fund the $1,000 awards.

“It’s one of Extension’s major programs now and we want others to see it as a resource that they have,” Nuetzman said. “The award is really for the county. I may have been the one who moved it forward in getting it published, but had it not been for everybody being willing to think outside the box and try some programing in a new area, we wouldn’t have had 10 years of success with the program.”

Above, Clinton County Extension Agent Christy Nuetzman spoke with freshmen students at Clinton County High School before the Truth & Consequences event got underway Friday at Stony Point Baptist Church.

Melissa Campbell walked around with students Friday morning as part of the scenarios portion of Truth & Consequences.

Above and below, students were also sent to the Law Enforcement booth in order to show students what happens when substance abuse is dealt with from their perspective.

Agriculture Community Specialist Brian Volland interviewed Sheriff Deputy David Bookout to document the success of the program for the University of Kentucky.