Making a statement

Cyndee Kulevich is serious about giving kids reasons to stay away from drugs.

She's seen the devastation they can cause.

"I have a family member that I went through rehab with," the Warrenville mother said. "It can happen to any one of our kids. Everybody thinks it's not going to be my kids, I'm teaching them right. But when they get away from us, things happen."

For two years she's been the guiding force behind Red Ribbon Week at Bower Elementary School in Warrenville.

Though most schools celebrated the week promoting a drug-free lifestyle Oct. 22-26, Bower is holding its events in early November. Many of the activities at area schools also overlap with the Character Counts curriculum.

Red Ribbon Week started in 1985 after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officer Enrique "Kiki" Camarena was killed during an investigation. He was tortured to death. In his honor, his friends started wearing red satin badges, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services' Web site.

Kulevich said she wants kids to know they have choices. And positive choices are what she's hoping to reinforce during the week. They'll focus on fairness, responsibility, pride, honesty, caring -- one trait for each day.

The same goes for students at Americana Intermediate School in Glendale Heights, where every day last week students focused on different character traits, said Terry LeDonne, the school's associate principal.

"We just want to get them to keep in mind to show good character -- and part of that is to say 'no' to drugs," LeDonne said.