The Fountain Hills Protect Our Youth Coalition and the Fountain Hills High School Student Government (STUGO) worked in conjunction to launch the Falcon PROMise Pledge campaign. STUGO members will be asking their fellow students to sign the pledge leading up to prom on Saturday, May 6.

The pledge reads, “I understand that drinking alcohol, vaping, and using other drugs is harmful to my health and can make me say or do things I might regret. I will do my best to avoid situations where my friends and others are drinking alcohol, vaping, or using other drugs.”

The pledge will be made into a permanent sign on the high school campus, and a “pledge wall” has been installed in the front office to display signed pledges throughout the rest of the school year. While it is called the Falcon PROMise Pledge, the goal is to encourage students to make healthy choices on prom weekend and carry those good decisions over through the rest of the year.

The Coalition has committed to pay STUGO $10 for each pledge signed. The funding for this commitment comes from a $5,000 grant that was awarded to the Coalition by The Fountain Hills Community Foundation.

Fundraising

According to Coalition Program Manager Shawn Uphoff, after STUGO representatives presented the idea for a pledge fundraiser to the FHUSD School Board at the March 8 meeting, parents reached out eager to support. Parents and other community members can donate at fhcoalition.org/promise.

Community donations will help offset the cost of the prom venue, Legacy Ballroom, and help raise scholarships for students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford prom. The Coalition also hopes to support homecoming and hoopcoming dances and other student life activities with the PROMise pledge donations.

“The Coalition believes strongly that participation in student life activities across campus allows students positive connections within their peer community that ultimately lead to good decision making when it comes to handling tough teen situations” a Coalition press release stated.

Campaign future

The Coalition is providing a PROMise speaker event for students on Thursday, April 20. Motivational speaker Michael Murtaugh will share his personal story of struggling with drugs and his ability to overcome drug addiction several years ago.

Uphoff has worked with Julie Heaney, who runs the Falcon Fiesta graduation celebration. According to Uphoff, there was already a pledge students could sign at Falcon Fiesta, and they worked together to give the students more consistency across the different pledges.

Most of Uphoff’s initial language came from a pledge from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). That pledge was designed to be an agreement between students and their parents to avoid alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Almost 20 STUGO members signed the PROMise pledge in their meeting during the last week of March. They won’t ask their classmates to do anything they wouldn’t do themselves, and they want to have the best prom night possible.

STUGO members will be making rounds asking for signatures, but students can also get their Falcon PROMise Pledge forms from STUGO advisor Austin Keating or from the front office.