For 13 years, the Clinton County Extension Office has held the Truth & Consequences program for Clinton County students.

Truth & Consequences: The Choice is Yours, was held on Friday for junior and sophomore students.

“The program is typically offered to freshman students in a half day format, but due to community events we have canceled the last couple of years,” Christy Guffey, Clinton County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences said. “Since the program was developed here in Clinton County, we wanted to ensure we had data for every year since we starting offering the program in 2006.”

Junior students participated in the morning session with sophomores in the afternoon. Friday’s event included nearly 300 students, parents, and community partners.

Students participated in scenarios related to the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse and interacted with community partners such as law enforcement, counseling, hospital, and many more.

“The dedication of our community partners is second to none. Many spent their day off interacting with students because they want to see our youth make positive choices and not have to suffer the legal, health, emotional, and financial consequences of alcohol and drug abuse,” Guffey said. “Everyone there wanted the students to know they care about them. We couldn’t do this program without community support.”

In addition to scenarios, students heard presentations from the Office of Probation and Parole, District Judge Scarlett Latham, and Sheriff Jeff Vincent. “Facial expressions of the students clearly showed that they connected with the speakers and recognized the long-term impact of decisions,” Guffey said. “Scheduling issues prevented us from implementing a mock accident as we have in previous years, but I feel like the speakers had the same impact, if not more, as they shared their stories with the students … it was powerful.”