On Oct. 21, the Tigard community is invited to come together in support of Tigard High School’s educational excellence by joining in a flag-raising celebration with Mayor Craig Dirksen, Superintendent Rob Saxton, Tigard High Principal Mark Neffendorf, Tigard Police Captain James de Sully, and other key leaders at 10 a.m. at Tigard High School, 9000 SW Durham Rd., Tigard.

This year, only ten schools in the country were selected for this prestigious honor. By keeping kids drug and alcohol free, THS is one of ten schools that has been selected for this prestigious award from Red Ribbon Certified Schools.

Clubs like Stop Tigard Underage Drinking (STUD) are integral to reaching this point. STUD, with a membership of over 125 students, hosts many events throughout the year to raise awareness to help prevent drug use, such as the Health Fair, Tulip planting at the middle schools, and hand painting.

“I am proud of us for being able to accomplish this because we’ve worked hard for the past three years to lower the percentage of kids who drink and use drugs,” said STUD Vice President Megan King.

Connie Ramaekers, Program Director of Tigard Turns the Tide (TTT), the community coalition that supports Tigard’s STUD and also helped THS achieve Red Ribbon certification, said that they “couldn’t have done it without [STUD members’] hard work”.

“The Red Ribbon Certified Schools program provides a wonderful opportunity to honor schools that utilize the Red Ribbon Campaign and other effective prevention strategies year round to help kids grow up safe, healthy and drug-free,” says Peggy Sapp, President and CEO of Informed Families. “Tigard High School does just that – and involves the entire community of students, parents, administrators and Tigard’s citizens in the process. That is prevention at its best.”