Student-led CommUNITY Pickleball and Fun
Dubois County CARES (Coalition for Adolescent Resilience and Empowerment Strategies) and the Tri-County YMCA hosted a recent CommUNITY Fun Day for local students at the Clem and Mary Lange YMCA in Ferdinand.
Students from throughout the county were invited to the YMCA for games, crafts, food and drinks, and a pickleball tournament. Prizes and drawings were awarded throughout the event.
CARES has a youth leadership team with representation from all high schools in the county. This team planned the event to have students from different schools come together for fun outside of normal school activities and sporting events.
“Usually, we are in a competition or sporting event,” Maleah Dearing, a Raiders CARE member and part of the county-wide leadership team, explained. “Our goal was to get all the schools together for friendly and fun competition.”
Candy Neal, Director of Dubois County CARES, agreed and added that the event also promoted an alternative to substance use.
“Our mission is to encourage students to be and remain drug- and alcohol-free,” she said.
She said that one of the issues they hear from students is they seek out drugs or alcohol because there is a lack of things for them to do.
“By doing something like this–and hopefully, more in the future–we’ll be giving students something else to do and also teach them that you don’t need to have alcohol to have fun,” Neal added.
