EVERETT – Sixth-grader Mohammed Othman is reading a comic book to learn about the dangers of drinking alcohol.
“It tells you when you do it, you get dizzy,” said Mohammed, 11. “It gives you other ideas about not doing drugs … and I like the pictures.”
Mohammed isn’t reading Spider-Man. He and 11 other sixth-graders meet after school to read an anti-alcohol comic called “Slick Tracy” with student volunteers from the Snohomish County Health and Safety Network.
Volunteer Alishia Smith, who graduated from Everett High School last spring, drives down from classes at Western Washington University in Bellingham to help teach the class.
“I come because I believe in this program and I want to see it succeed,” Smith said. “The center’s like my second home.”
She smiles as the boys, who can barely sit still, read the week’s comic out loud.
In this adventure, young private eye Slick Tracy – based on classic comic-strip detective Dick Tracy – and partner Breathtest Mahoney foil advertising attempts to make alcohol seem fun.
The comic was created in 1998 and is taught in schools on the East Coast. Student members of the Health and Safety Network brought the comic here two years ago.
“They really wanted to do something youth-related and decided to do a peer-education program,” said Carrie Weldon, the network’s community outreach director.
Students even helped write the grant request for money to start the program. That came from the Greater Everett Community Foundation. The Slick Tracy class now gets federal dollars to pay for the comics, snacks and group activities.
This is the fourth time the free class has been offered at the center, and it has grown every time.
“When kids are younger, they’re easier to reach,” said volunteer Ahmed Al-Hamdani, 16, a sophomore at Everett High School. “They really like the comic book, and being with us.”
In addition to reading the comic, student volunteers encourage the group to name nonalcoholic drinks and suggest activities they can do instead of drinking.
Ahmed Al-Alaki stops the conversation to ask volunteer Marie Howard, 16, “What’s the taste of alcohol?”
She responds, “Some people think alcohol tastes pretty gross.”
Volunteers send home a lesson for the kids to do with their parents. Last week’s included watching television shows and commercials and identifying what messages they send about alcohol.
The lessons seem to stick, Al-Hamdani said.
“We asked them how many minutes a cigarette takes off their life – it’s seven – and they remembered the answer,” he said.
The student volunteers say they too are learning from the classes.
“They’re all great kids, but because they know they’re teaching such a strong message, they’re influenced to make better decisions because the younger kids are watching them closely,” Weldon said.
The Health and Safety Network hopes to offer the next class in the anti-drug and alcohol series to seventh-graders next year, Weldon said.
The network hasn’t had difficulty finding kids who want to participate in the five-week class, said Sharlena Boyett, 17, a senior who is home-schooled.
“The older kids talk about it with their brothers and sisters, and as soon as they hear we’re doing another class, they’re excited,” Boyett said.
She volunteers 10 to 15 hours a week working with kids at the community center.
“I like these kids and I like we’re giving them information they need to know,” she said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
