BOISE, Idaho — Middle school students from Kuna, Boise, and West Ada schools learned about the dangers of fentanyl at Idaho's first-ever Youth Fentanyl Summit. Kids will use what they learned at the summit to create a program about fentanyl that they’ll share with their classmates during Red Ribbon Week.
- Student leaders from 20 middle schools in Kuna, Boise, and West Ada school districts were given $250 per school to share what they learned at the summit with their peers in a unique way.
- You can learn more about fentanyl and its impact on Idaho here.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"We know kids can reach kids better than anybody better than any adult so rather than talk at them we talk with them, we partner with them," says Brian Keen, with "Building Knowledge, Keeping Balance."
He spoke to kids at Tuesday's summit about the dangers of fentanyl.
"We don't make anything up, there's no lies, but it is a very serious topic. But we tell these kids there is no other way for them to make a healthy decision unless they have the accurate information to do that," says Keen.
Nearly 130 kids attended the summit where they brainstormed ideas with their classmates on how to bring what they learned back to their schools.
"What we say to them early on is you can't claim ignorance anymore. You guys know the dangers now, we told you, we showed you, now how do you want to move that forward with your peers," added Keen.
"We targeted the middle school kids because our goal today was to give them information about what's happening with fentanyl also to motivate them as leaders in their schools to go back to their schools and do messaging like peer to peer," says Kim Bekkedahl, the Superintendent for the Kuna School District.
She helped coordinate the summit and tells me each group of students received $250 to go back to their schools and raise awareness in a unique way.
"And whatever the kids want to do, whatever they come up with, we're gonna help them expand it," says Bekkedahl.
"From my perspective as US Attorney, we have seen young people die from fentanyl, and that's the worst thing that can happen. So if there's anything that we can do to make kids or help kids make good decisions and not go down the path of experimenting with fentanyl or becoming addicted to fentanyl, we're certainly gonna try everything that we can," says Josh Hurwit, the US Attorney for the District of Idaho.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the number of students attending was closer to 130 rather than 200
