Go Purple

Molly Scheffler, Section Editor, The Bagpipe|February 1, 2016

The Herren Project was created in 2011 by former NBA player, Chris Herren. The mission of the foundation is to assist in helping people toward recovery and sobriety with educational programs and resources to increase awareness on addiction. Within the Herren Project, is the Project Purple Initiative, in which Highland Park and many schools across the country participate.

The Project Purple Initiative is a national anti-substance abuse initiative which was launched to break the stigma of addiction, bring awareness to the dangers of substance abuse and shed light on effective treatment practices. It was created in 2012 after Herren spoke at a high school the previous year. Students in the front row of the auditorium were wearing purple shirts.

Then, at the end of the assembly one student, who was wearing purple, stood and said “Thank you Mr. Herren for validating what we do. We are the sober students of this high school and each year we take a pledge to not use drugs or alcohol.” This act of courage inspired Herren to make a difference in the lives of adolescents across the United States.

The main mission of the project is to have students learn that they do not need drugs and alcohol to meet life’s challenges; they are perfect the way they are.

This can be difficult for adolescent in a world where 90 percent of addictions begin in the teenage years (CASA Columbia 2012) and in 2012, an estimated 9.3 million underage persons — aged 12 to 20 — drank alcohol, including 5.9 million binge drinkers and 1.7 million heavy drinkers (SAMHSA 2012).

Through this project at HP the project brings awareness to substance abuse and encourages students that they do not need drugs and alcohol in their lives. The week of Jan. 25 to 29 was Project Purple week for HP. On Monday, the first 500 students that entered through the student entrance received free project purple t-shirts. Then on Friday the first 100 students who entered the student entrance wearing purple received free Project Purple Initiative socks. Also, during lunch on Friday student council handed out free cookies. All of these events throughouts HP’s Project Purple Week spread awareness about the initiative and the mission of the Project Purple Initiative.

Overall, the Project Purple Initiative has affected students and schools across the United States through one organization’s simple initiative. This project will continue to bring awareness to substance abuse and promote positive decision making in life’s challenges.