Youth headed to National SADD Conference

This summer, five students from New Rockford-Sheyenne will be attending the National SADD Conference in Orlando, Florida.

SADD, which stands for Students Against Destructive Decisions, holds a national conference every year to empower and mobilize students from across the country to engage in positive change. This year's conference also celebrates SADD's 40th birthday.

Taking part from NR-S are Vinnie Ruppell, Joshua Homiston, Andrew Presnell, Madison Myhre and Mya Cudworth, and joining them will be Jon Johnson, co-advisor of the SADD program.

The group will be flying out on Tuesday, July 12, en route to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, F.L., where they'll attend workshop sessions and listen to keynote speakers discuss important topics - such as leadership, distracted driving and more.

"The students will get to go to a SADD 40th Celebration at Epcot one night," said Carissa Johnson, lead advisor for SADD. "One of the first nights of the conference, the students will also have a night at [Disney's] Magic Kingdom."

Johnson added that fundraising for the trip is well underway, and thanks to generous donations, they've already met much of their fundraising goal.

Johnson told the NR-S School Board at their April meeting that Rocket Boosters generously donated $500, and that the New Rockford Eagles Club has donated a whopping $5,000.

Four of the five students were also able to prepare and serve food at the Easter Brunch Fundraiser on April 17, and despite the weather, they managed to raise just under $500. Johnson added that more fundraisers are coming in the near future.

"The other fundraisers that we have are serving the meal at the Paul Hungness Auction on Saturday, June 4," said Johnson. "The students and families will be serving both breakfast and lunch during the auction. The other fundraiser we have planned will be our annual Color Run."

Johnson said the Color Run will take place on Saturday, June 11, and that registration information will be available sometime in May.

In the meantime, the students are looking forward to their trip in July, and Johnson said the kids are especially looking forward to spending time at Disney World. If it's anything like she experienced as a student, Johnson added, there will be plenty of life lessons for the students to learn from.

"I enjoyed attending these conferences when I was in SADD because it gave me an opportunity to travel, work extra hard to earn the money for something I wanted, make new friends from across the country, and learn from/be inspired by the workshops and keynote speakers," recalled Johnson. "I am hoping that the students will get at least one of these aspects from this trip."

Be sure to participate in SADD's upcoming fundraisers if you'd like to support their trip to Orlando, and Johnson says that anyone wishing to donate can reach her at (701) 302-0777, or they can contact Jon Johnson or any of the students attending.