Community-Coalition On Drug Awareness

Educating Communities Through

Awareness-Acknowledgement-Action 

 

Follow us:Facebook

  • Home
    • About Us
  • NEWSROOM
    • C-CODA Special Edition
    • Guest Column
    • Montana/Local News
    • Letters
    • Youth Connections Magazine
  • PREVENTION
    • A Paradigm Shift
    • ACEs
    • Healthy Gallatin
    • Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program
    • MSU SAFE Coalition
    • Partnership to End Addiction
    • Risk & Protective Factors
    • SMOSH
    • The Big Blue Sky Initiative
    • The Crisis Next Door
    • The Partnership Center
    • We Save Lives
  • ENFORCEMENT
    • Bozeman Police Department
    • High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas
    • Project Safe Neighborhoods
  • TREATMENT
    • Alcohol & Drug Services of Galltin County
    • Community Medical Services
    • Mental Health America of Montana
    • MSU Center For Recovering Students
    • WATCh Program
    • Youth Dynamics
  • WHAT HEROES DO
    • School Resources Officers
  • Elks Drug Awareness Program
    • Elks Teen Zone
    • Bullying & Drug Abuse
    • Drug-Impaired Driving
    • New DEA & Elks Drug Awareness Campaign
  • DEA Community Outreach Section
    • National Drug Threat Assessment
    • 2020 Drugs of Abuse
    • Preventing Marijuana Use Among Youth
    • Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students
    • The Life of DEA Special Agent Kiki Camarena
  • GALLATIN COUNTY COMMUNITIES THAT CARE
    • CTC Fact Sheet
    • Enrique Camarena-What Heroes Do
  • Gallatin County DUI Task Force
    • Faces of DUI Prevention
    • Bozeman Chronicle Editorial
    • Public Information & Education
    • Catapalooza -MSU
    • Call to Action
    • Know Your Limit
    • DUI Penalties
    • Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis
    • MADD
    • MADD'S 2019 Report To The Nation
    • Montana DUI Task Forces
    • Report Drunk Drivers
    • Vision Zero
  • Montana Meth Project
  • NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR DRUG ENDANGERED CHILDREN
  • Parenting Montana
  • Parents
    • 6 Parenting Practices
    • Drug Guide APP
    • Easy to Read Drug Facts
    • Get Smart About Drugs
    • How can I tell if my child is using drugs?
    • How to Talk to Your Kids About Drugs
    • Let's Face It
    • Talk They Hear You
    • Parent Power
    • Paper Tigers
    • Prescription for Disaster
    • Talk. They Hear You.
    • Risk & Protective Factor Model of Prevention
    • Something So Harmless
    • TEDx Talk
    • Underage Binge Drinking
    • Underage Drinking Prevention App
  • TEACHERS
    • Children Impacted by Addiction: A Toolkit For Educators
    • Get Smart About Drugs
    • Operation Prevention
  • TEENS
    • Power of You(th)
    • The Rock Youth Center
    • Something So Harmless
    • E-Cigs/JULL
    • True Stories
  • SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS IN MONTANA
    • Addressing Substance Use Disorder
    • Prescription Opioid Misuse
    • Substance Use Disorder Percentages
  • MUST-READ BOOKS
    • War On Drugs
    • The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
  • ALCOHOL
    • 21 Means 21
    • Binge Drinking
    • Why Alcohol is the Deadliest Drug
    • FAMILY AGREEMENT FORM: AVOIDING ALCOHOL
    • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
    • How much is too much?
    • Let's Control It
    • Montanans Love Beer
    • Party Hosting
    • Rethinking Drinking
    • Something So Harmless
    • Underage Drinking
  • Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
  • E-cigarettes
    • What is VAPING?
    • 6 Vaping Products Disguised As Everyday Items
    • 5 MYTHS OF JUULS
    • Electronic Cigarettes are NOT Harmless
    • JULL
    • Vaping Facts
  • HEROIN
    • The Changing Face of Heroin
    • Who is most at risk of heroin addicton?
    • Heroin in the Heartland
    • Fact Sheet
    • Fentanyl
    • Fentanyl Crisis
    • Fentanyl & Heroin
  • Marijuana
    • Cannabis & Driving
    • Chronic State
    • Facts for Teens
    • Talking to Teens
    • Marijuana Tool Kit
    • Marijuana: Download The Facts Poster
    • A Scientific Perspective
    • Lessons Learned From Marijuana Legalization
    • Montana Marijuana Program
    • Perceived Risk of Harm
    • Smart Approaches to Marijuana
    • Traffic Fatalities & Impaired Driving
    • What Advocates of Legalizing Pot Don’t Want You to Know
  • MARIJUANA & OUR YOUTH
  • METHAMPHETAMINE
    • A Highly Addictive Stimulant
    • Get The Facts
    • Resource For Parents, Educators,
    • Signs of a Meth Lab
  • Prescription Drugs
    • Rx Awareness Campaign
    • Bitter Pill Exhibit
    • Bozeman Health Medication Disposal Sites
    • CHASING THE DRAGON
    • CVS Health-Medication Disposal Boxes
    • DREAMLAND
    • Lock Your Meds
    • Medicine Abuse Project
    • Montana Prescription Drug Registry
    • Operation Medicine Cabinet
    • Prescription Drug Safety Network
    • Proper Disposal
    • Resolve To End RX Abuse
    • Raising Awareness
    • Take Action Against Prescription Drugs
    • The Hungry Heart
  • Synthetic Drugs
    • Date Rape Drugs
    • Synthetic Marijuana
    • The Deadly Rise of Fentanyl
  • C-CODA Archives
    • C-CODA News
    • DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
  • COMMUNITY RESOURCES
    • Crisis Response Program
    • Gallatin County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force
    • Helpline/Help Center
  • Resource Center
    • Alcoholics Anonymous
    • Community Medical Services
    • Continuum of Care
    • Enrique S. Camarena Educational Foundation
    • Handle With Care
    • Monitoring The Future
    • Montana Health Care Foundation
    • Montana Hope Project
    • MSU Extension Community Health Resources
    • MSU President's Commission on Substance Abuse Prevention
    • National Institute on Drug Abuse
    • National Organization of Students Against Substance Abuse
    • Policies to Reduce Drinking & Driving
    • President's Volunteer Service Award
    • Preventing Teen Prescription Misuse
    • STREETDRUGS...a drug identification guide
    • Tall Cop
    • Youth Risk Behavior Survey
  • Contact Us

A Paradigm Shift


By RICK GALE, Retired Teacher
Irvine Unified School District

 A PARADIGM SHIFT 

By RICK GALE, Retired Teacher

Irvine Unified School District

 

20 years ago, a student of mine drove to a remote area near Saddleback Mountain in Orange County, California and ended his life.  A few days later I received a phone call from the boy's father asking me if I would do the eulogy for Rodney.  I was speechless.  I wasn't sure how to respond.  Rodney had only been in my class for a few weeks.

I told Rodney's father that I didn't think I was the right person to do the eulogy.  Rodney’s father told me that his son would often come home and talk about all the things he had learned in my class. Rodney also told his father he really respected me as a teacher.   It was then I learned how much teachers touch the lives of students without realizing it.

After reflecting on this, I knew that I wanted to do the Eulogy for Rod, his family, and friends.

Rodney's death, more than any other event in my teaching career created a paradigm shift in my thinking about what it meant to be a teacher.  Every day, I was in the classroom, I had the opportunity to be a helper, facilitator, resource person, consultant, behind-the-scene manager and counselor. 

A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a former Woodbridge H.S. student thanking me for my kindness.  

After high school, I came to you with a very serious issue I was having at home.  I was going through a very rough time and no longer could suppress what happened.  I had nowhere to turn and no clue on what to do about it.  You were the only person I could think of to turn to.

I came to you after school and you gave me a few numbers that could help me and told me if I ever needed your help to contact you.  You also told me "Don't ever let someone else take you down.  You are a strong lady." 

I have to say, the numbers you handed me and what you said saved my life. 

A few weeks after meeting with you, I was sitting alone in a room with a loaded gun, I was ready to do it and I dropped the gun.  It fell right on the card of a hotline number you had given me.  Instead of picking up the gun, I picked up the card and remembered what you said to me.

Rather than standing in front of a class and just lecturing em and testing em, be there for them and encourage them to live a balanced life.

Image result for all i really need to know i learned in kindergarten


 
"Learn some and think some and draw and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some."

-Robert Fulghum

 

Elks National Foundation

 

C-CODA’s website is funded by the Elks National Foundation Beacon Grant.


The mission of the Elks National Foundation is to help Elks build stronger communities. We fulfill this pledge by investing in communities where Elks live and work.

 

Follow us:Facebook