Munson named Northern Lights SADD 2018-19 Student of the Year

The Northern Lights SADD Conference was held March 17- 19 at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. Northern Lights SADD encompasses students from North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota that address core issues including underage drinking, tobacco and other drug use, traffic safety, suicide and violence.

Northern Lights SADD has become recognized as one of the strongest and most innovative SADD networks in the nation, consistently producing passionate and capable youth leaders.

The New Rockford-Sheyenne (NR-S) SADD Chapter has several of those capable young leaders within its ranks and was well-represented at the conference. Current Northern Lights Advisory Board (NLAB) members Miranda Johnson, Lauren Roscoe and Logan Munson all attended, as well as Kenna Munson and Gretchen Berglund.

At the conference NR-S junior Logan Munson was awarded Northern Lights SADD Student of the Year. This is the second year in a row that a student from NR-S has received this award. NR-S senior Miranda Johnson was the 2017-18 Student of the Year.

To receive this honor, a student must write an essay, submit two letters of recommendation and receive a nomination from his or her advisor. The strongest applicant is then selected from all those submitted. This is Munson's fourth year in SADD and his second year serving on the advisory board.

When he was first selected to the advisory board last spring, Munson said he initially joined SADD because his friends were joining and he wanted to be part of a fun group. "Then, I realized that SADD was a great organization that I wanted to continue to take part in," he added. "I was motivated to run for NLAB because I was inspired by the NLAB...and wanted to be part of that. This is also a way to advocate for SADD and spend time with students who share my values."

Munson's accomplishments include serving on the local board, attending the national conference last year and attending Northern Lights Conference the past three years. He has also helped plan, organize and implement various programs, including Red Ribbon Week, a drug prevention program at school in which the SADD members organize dress-up days and encourage students to say no to drugs. Munson also helped with the Halloween haunted house and coordinated the Rock the Belt seatbelt awareness campaign, where SADD members conducted checks by the school and handed out "Smarties" candy to those wearing their seatbelts and "Dum Dum" suckers to people they caught not wearing their seatbelts.

Munson has also been selected to participate in a national program called SADD SPEAKS, an acronym that stands for Students for Policy, Education, Advocacy and Knowledge. SPEAKs is a four-day intensive program in Washington, D.C. occurring every four years that is designed to empower students to address traffic safety issues. Students selected to the program are asked to develop an advocacy plan to address impaired driving in their state and local communities. They also have an opportunity to share their plans with political leaders in Washington, D.C.

Munson said the focus this year is on distracted driving, and there is no better time than the present to address it. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,450 lives in 2016 alone. In a AAA poll, 94 percent of teen drivers acknowledged the dangers of texting and driving, but 35 percent admitted to doing it anyway. Further, in 2013, 10 percent of all drivers ages 15 to 19 involved in fatal accidents were reported to be distracted at the time of the crash. After engaging in training this spring and attending the Washington, D.C. program, Munson will become an advocate seeking to influence local, state and federal policy aimed at reducing distracted driving and improving traffic safety.

The NR-S SADD Chapter has also had excellent representation on the NLAB in past years. With only 12 spots available and students across three states applying, it is quite a feat for a chapter to have multiple representatives selected, and this year NR-S will again have three. Even more special is that this year is the first time that two siblings will be serving on the advisory board, as Logan's sister Kenna earned a spot on the board alongside her brother. Gretchen Berglund was also selected to serve on the board. The selection process has three parts: first, students are chosen locally from among their peers to apply for seats on the board; second, students complete the application and submit it to Northern Lights Youth Services; third, the applications are reviewed by Lee Erickson, the NLYS Coordinator, who selects 12 board members from among the many applications. All three members will attend the SADD National Conference June 23-27 in Tysons, Va. The chapter has 25 members in grades 7-12.

The NR-S SADD Chapter will host a Color Run on Saturday, May 19 to raise awareness for suicide prevention. Pre-registration is open through April 30. Registration forms are available at the school or by contacting Miranda Johnson or advisor Carissa Johnson. On the day of the race, registration begins at 9 a.m., and the race at 10 a.m.