In an effort to deter youth from negative activity, the county’s
Club Live is starting up its monthly dances for middle school-aged
kids.
The first for this school year will be Friday from 7 to 9:45
p.m. at the Hollister Community Center. Club Live is a state-wide
organization that aims at keeping younger kids drug-free, said
Lucia Aguilar-Navarro, community liaison with the San Benito
Prevention Coalition.
In an effort to deter youth from negative activity, the county’s Club Live is starting up its monthly dances for middle school-aged kids.
The first for this school year will be Friday from 7 to 9:45 p.m. at the Hollister Community Center. Club Live is a state-wide organization that aims at keeping younger kids drug-free, said Lucia Aguilar-Navarro, community liaison with the San Benito Prevention Coalition.
“We want to involve kids in drug-free activities, involve them in community activities that may not necessarily have to do with them,” Aguilar-Navarro said.
The dances are important because they give youth something do to in a town that is relatively lacking in that department, she said.
While some community members may not think delinquency or drug abuse is a problem in San Benito County, Aguilar-Navarro points to a survey taken two years ago. The California Healthy Kids Survey anonymously asked county students in fifth, seventh, ninth and 11th grade about drug use. Kids as young as 11 admitted to drinking, smoking and using other drugs, Aguilar-Navarro said.
“It may not be a real huge problem right now, but we want to prevent it from being a problem in the future,” she said.
The survey will be taken again this fall.
Club Live is also a club on middle-school campuses. Members take an oath to be smoke and drug free. Club Live is at Marguerite Maze Middle School, Spring Grove School and Aromas School. Organizers are working on getting the club at Rancho San Justo Middle School.
Club Live’s counterpart, Friday Night Live, is for teens in high school. Friday Night Live is at San Benito High School, Aguilar-Navarro said.
The Club Live dances run every second Friday of the month and are for county middle-school students only. Admission is $4 for Club Live members and $5 for non-members.
Aguilar-Navarro also pointed out that the youth council needs more members and the prevention coalition is always looking for more volunteers since it is volunteer-run.
The dance is sponsored by the San Benito Prevention Coalition and the San Benito Youth Council. The community center is located at 300 West St.
For more information on the dances or the organizations, call the prevention coalition at 636-4382 or e-mail [email protected].
