Apr 25, 2017 3 min read

Belle Vernon School Board Monday recognized the Reality Tour Committee for its efforts in educating students and parents on drug use prevention.

The Belle Vernon Area Reality Tour is a volunteer-driven, interactive program that is designed to educate children and parents on the dangers of drug use. This program has been held at Belle Vernon Area High School once a month for the last three years by Celeste Trilli Palamara, program director, and Valerie Stringhill Homanics, co-director, who both have family members in recovery. The program model was purchased by Belle Vernon Area School District and the Belle Vernon Area Rotary.

Palamara said this program was started in Butler by Norma Norris and said the program is held for students 10 years old and up with parental or guardian supervision. She said the national statistics show the average age of drug experimentation is 13, so the committee has worked with middle school principal Gregory Zborovancik to include those students.

She said this program allows the committee to educate the parent and the child on the same day and helps to get the conversation about drug use and prevention going.

“The parent is the best prevention a child will have,” Palamara said. She said they are now educating families and students in the Belle Vernon and surrounding communities regarding the dangers of drug use and presenting evidence-based prevention strategies.

Palamara shared recent Westmoreland County statistics, with 126 drug- and alcohol-related overdose deaths in 2015 and 174 in 2016, a 34 percent increase. She said there were five overdose deaths in Rostraver Township. Palamara said heroin overdoses have increased by 68 percent nationally since 2015.

She said the feedback the leaders get is “priceless” and many people who are surveyed say the program should be required for students and parents. Homanics said they have educated 802 people through the program, 428 adults and 374 children. She said more than half were from Belle Vernon Area School District.

Director John M. Nusser Jr. said he attended the program with his child a few months ago and said they both learned a lot. Nusser said the program they attended featured a speech from a local recovering addict who had an athletic scholarship. He said it showed no matter who you are or what your position is in life, addiction can happen to anyone. “It put a face to what the disease is and how it affects people,” Nusser said.

The last session for the year is 6 to 8:30 p.m. May 1 at the high school auditorium.

Those interested in attending can fill out the registration form on the Belle Vernon Area Reality Tour Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/BVArealitytour/.

The board also announced it will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the administration building to discuss the progress of the budget.