FeedsJust Say Cheer
Classes include drug abuse prevention
Students of all ages flock to the Metro Cheer Training Center in Westland once a week for the Just Say Cheer program.
The 40 participants, who range from elementary school to high school age, meet once a week to hone their cheerleading skills. They use much of their time preparing for competition, specifically the AAU Junior Olympics taking place at the end of the month in Virginia.
There’s more to the class than meets the eye, though.
According Perrmella Harris, owner and program director at the center, earlier this year staff members began to question what else they could do for the students.
“We wanted to get a message to the girls and boys beyond just cheerleading,” she said.
With that, their annual summer program took on another dimension as the staff decided to teach the children about substance abuse prevention alongside their cheer routines.
“We have kids from all over,” said Harris. “It doesn’t matter if you’re from Bloomfield Hills. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Southfield. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Detroit. We need to make the kids aware of it because it happens.”
In fact, Harris said that, she hadn’t realized quite how pervasive the was until the teams actually began to openly discuss the issue and elementary school students began to speak out about brushes with substance abuse.
As part of the new Just Say Cheer program, students now work with representatives from the Taylor Teen Health Center every other week to learn about smoking, alcohol, and drugs and about the consequences of substance abuse. According to Harris, the program also gives students from highly diverse backgrounds an opportunity to learn from each other and banish preconceptions about substance abuse.
The program has already earned the support of Prevention Network, which utilizes funding provided by the Michigan Department of Community Health/Office if Drug Control Policy and by the Michigan State Police Office of Highway Safety Planning.
“Projects like the one this group has organized represent a grassroots effort to create healthy communities free of substance abuse problems,” said Sheila Taylor, executive director of Prevention Network.
Earlier this month, the organization offered Metro Cheer a $950 grant to help offset the cost of the program. The funding is designed to help volunteer-based community programs create a prevention program that is tailored to meet the needs of their area.
For Harris, however, it’s simply business as usual as the competition date draws close.
“We want to go down to Virginia Beach and bring home some trophies and the national title,” said Harris. “But we would also like to spread the message of prevention to the students and maybe have them spread that message to their friends.”