Go purple

All about The Herren Project and the Purple Project Initiative

Molly Scheffler, Section Editor, The Bagpipe|February 4, 2016

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

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 in 2011 where 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, as they are perfect the way they are.

This can be difficult for adolescents 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).

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. On Friday, the first 100 students who entered the student entrance wearing purple recieved free Project Purple Initiative socks. Also, student council handed out free cookies at lunch that same day. All of these events throughout HP’s Project Purple Week spread awareness about the purpose and the mission of the Project Purple Initiative.

The Project Purple Initiative has positively affected students and schools across the U.S. through one organization’s simple idea, which began in 2012. This project will continue to bring awareness to substance abuse and promote positive decision making in life’s challenges.