Two Rockwood students, Jessika Buehler and Angela Robinson, have been recognized at the 2012 MYAA Speak Hard Youth Event. MYAA, the Missouri Youth Adult Alliance, awarded a total of 18 Missouri students, including Robinson and Buehler, the Youth Prevention Award. This award honors youth who have done outstanding work in the field of substance abuse prevention. They have been involved and worked with integrity in their community and extra-curricular activities.

Buehler and Robinson are both members of the Rockwood Drug-Free Coalition youth group.  They have worked with the Coalition to organize events for teens, such as the “Rockwood Rocks!” Band Night. They also provide mentoring to younger students at middle school events.  Buehler, a sophomore at Eureka High School, and Robinson, a junior at Lafayette High School, have been involved with the Coalition’s efforts since last summer.

Coalition Director, Renee Heney, says “Our Coalition is very proud of Jessika and Angela.  Their efforts to work with others and to set a positive example in substance abuse prevention makes them very deserving of this honor.  Our Rockwood community is a better place because of them and other students like them.”

The Rockwood Drug-Free Coalition is a grant-funded organization that brings together community leaders, parents and youth to prevent substance abuse in the Rockwood School District.